By STEVEN VIERA
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — The Police Department is implementing a series of new programs for the coming year designed to help officers serve and connect with members of the community.
Many of these programs, such as the newly created Safe Internet Exchange Zone, come at no additional cost to East Brunswick or its residents.
“I’m very excited about these programs,” Chief James Conroy said to the Township Council at a public meeting on May 23.
One initiative is an opiate outreach program — one of the first such programs in New Jersey — that reaches out to individuals struggling with opiate addictions and makes a referral regarding potential treatment options. According to Patrolman Craig Hoover from East Brunswick’s Office of Community Policing Unit, the opiate outreach program was modeled after an initiative from Arlington, Massachusetts.
“We partnered with a treatment center called SOBA College Recovery,” Hoover explained. He also noted that SOBA College has recognized the East Brunswick Police Department for starting the initiative and that the Municipal Drug Alliance for East Brunswick has been “a big supporter” of the program.
The Police Department has also instituted a Safe Internet Exchange Zone in the parking lot outside of its police station where residents can go to collect items purchased on eBay or Craigslist.
“Rather than meeting at a Wawa, in the back, in the dark, they can meet here in our municipal lot, on camera, and they can do it in a safe manner,” Conroy said. Furthermore, according to East Brunswick Chief Financial Officer L. Mason Neely, the Safe Internet Exchange Zone is a no-cost program since the cameras and facilities it utilizes are already in place.
Last year, the East Brunswick Police Department launched a program where officers would visit high school students and speak with them in their classes. This year, that effort has expanded into a pilot program in which officers will speak to students who have been suspended from school and have one-on-one or two-on-one discussions about the students’ behavior, the importance of making good choices and the implications of re-offending. Hoover pointed out that the discussions are very personal and confidential and that the program has enjoyed success.
“We’re here to have an adult discussion about their behavior and where it can potentially lead, and our hope is that we are a resource for them,” he said.
Other programs implemented by the Police Department this year include a Vacation Watch, where East Brunswick residents can notify the police via a form online that they will be going on vacation and, if time and manpower allow, officers will check up on the residence. Also, a Blue Angel Program, in which residents can fill out an online form so that police can add information to their computerized dispatch system regarding potential issues with a resident, such as Alzheimer’s disease or mental health conditions.
Contact Steven Viera at [email protected].