FREEHOLD – After 25 years of serving and protecting the community, Freehold Borough’s police chief is retiring.
During a meeting on Dec. 3, Borough Council members passed a resolution confirming the retirement of Police Chief Glenn Roberts. Officials said the chief’s retirement will become effective on March 1, 2019.
Roberts joined the police department as a patrolman in March 1994. He was promoted to sergeant in 2002 and to lieutenant in 2009. Following the retirement of Police Chief Mitch Roth, Roberts was appointed by the council as the police department’s Officer in Charge. He was named police chief in 2011 and has continued to serve in that position.
“Chief Roberts has been with the Freehold Borough Police Department for many years and we certainly wish him well in his long, happy, healthy retirement,” council President Sharon Shutzer said.
Councilman George Schnurr said the crime rate in the borough was significantly lowered during Roberts’ tenure as police chief.
“There is one crime statistic that really speaks to the leadership of our police department,” Schnurr said. “We had an unprecedented reduction in the crime rate from 53.2 percent per 1,000 in 1996 all the way down to 14.7 percent per 1,000 in 2015. …
“On top of that, our police department has also been accredited. You have to drive about 90 minutes from here to find another police department that has done both of those things. My hat is off to our police chief and our captain (Craig Dispenza) because they have been there for the whole thing,” he said.
Council members did not discuss who may succeed Roberts as police chief.