Police flashing lights

(File photo)

The mayors of southern Hunterdon municipalities with local police forces think the time is right to plan for a single regional police force, and are meeting on Dec. 5 with state officials to advance the idea.

Freeholder Rob Walton is adding his support.

That's the word from Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio. The idea was last considered in 2010, by Lambertville and West Amwell Township. This time it's on the table in those municipalities and Delaware Township.

Delaware Township Mayor Ken Novak said, “Working together, we can create a police system that can be even better prepared, even faster to respond, and even stronger in our own communities.”

Novak said, "Everybody worries about their coverage; we're used to hometown rule."

However, he added, rising costs — particularly health insurance — flat municipal revenues, a still-faltering economy and the continued state-set 2 percent cap on tax increases can't be ignored.

"The last two or three years our revenues are flat, flat, flat," said Novak. "The only thing you can do is raise taxes, unfortunately."

With most municipalities in the same situation, Novak foresees a day when regional police are the norm in New Jersey.

"I'd rather be the one going into it, than the one being put in it," he said.

A south county police study in 2009 recommended that Lambertville and West Amwell merge their departments, a move that consultant Blue Shield said could reduce costs while allowing officers more mobility and training. At least one year after merging, Blue Shield said that combined department could offer contracted services to East Amwell Township, the other participant in the 2009 study.

Since that time West Amwell has added police officers and East Amwell has contracted with first Raritan Township and now West Amwell for limited traffic enforcement services to augment its State Police coverage.

In southern Hunterdon, Stockton Borough relies fully on State Police.

In 2009, Delaware Township refused to join the grant-funded police merger study, and West Amwell officials and residents were wary of the concept.

In its report, Blue Shield said that response times could have been maintained in West Amwell by assigning work zones and staggering times at which officers would report to duty.

The three mayors endorse a study at the end of 2014, DelVecchio said, because "we're collectively in a different place than we were five years ago. The relationships are much different than they were five years ago."

That's a result of multiple shared-service arrangements undertaken since then, he said, including a public-body energy consortium, municipal energy aggregation for willing residents and businesses, third-party purchasing agreements and shared animal control services.

In September 2013 voters in Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell each approved merging four school districts and forming the county's first Pre-K through grade 12 district, South Hunterdon Regional.

DelVecchio said of Stockton and East Amwell, "We're not excluding them, we're focusing on the three municipalities with police departments right now. Anytime anyone wants to jump in, we're fine with that."

Walton, who leads the county governing body’s public safety and shared services committees, said, “I applaud these communities for wanting to come together to do something that, quite simply, makes common sense.”

He thinks a South County regional police force "can create a more efficient system for protecting the public. These talks have just begun in earnest, and there is still a long way to go, but the County stands firmly behind this effort.”

In West Amwell, Mayor George Fisher opined that “working in partnership to ensure the security of our entire south county region makes just as much sense as patrolling our own municipal roads."

He also said that consolidation could "create a more sustainable force over the long run."

Lambertville Police Director Bruce Cocuzza is a retired New York Police Department captain. He said a larger South County force would offer "more options" for "enhanced police services."

He said a regional department could still respond to each community's wants and needs, the former, for instance, by increasing traffic enforcement on township roads and the latter by having detectives tasked with investigations.

"You can focus on whatever is a primary concern in a respective municipality," Cocuzza said, and end up overall with "better policing" because of increased flexibility.

DelVecchio also thinks the "times of each municipality in New Jersey doing everything on its own are coming to an end. We all must start realizing that the world doesn’t end at our own borders, and that we need broader approaches that will enhance the delivery of services and provide a better value to taxpayers."

In an emergency, he said, "residents don't care what the name on the side of the police car is so long as it shows up to help."

Renee Kiriluk-Hill may be reached at rkhill@hcdemocrat.com. Follow her on Twitter @ReneKirilukHill. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.