{"id":7296,"date":"2013-05-30T09:34:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T13:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=7296"},"modified":"2013-05-30T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T13:34:25","slug":"new-garden-oks-247-pilot-police-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=7296","title":{"rendered":"New Garden OKs 24\/7 pilot police program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supporters say it will greatly improve safety at reasonable cost<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>

New Garden Township Police Chief Gerald R. Simpson presents the proposal to provide 24-hour police coverage<\/p><\/div>\n

New Garden Township\u2019s supervisors authorized a pilot program Wednesday night that will provide 24-hour-a-day police coverage.<\/p>\n

The supervisors\u2019 unanimous decision came after a nearly two-hour meeting that included a presentation by Police Chief Gerald R. Simpson, who then fielded questions, comments, and concerns from the board and the public. Those exchanges were followed by an executive session with the board, Simpson, and Officer Gerard M. Lindenlauf, president of the New Garden Police Officers Association.<\/p>\n

In making a motion to approve the pilot program, which will begin \u201cas soon as operationally possible,\u201d Supervisor Bob Norris attached several conditions, including approval by the township solicitor and a resolution to amend the 2013 budget as needed. Norris also said the police union and township must come to an agreement on contract terms before the program ends on Dec. 12 so that the supervisors will have information in time for next year\u2019s budget planning.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>

New Garden Township Supervisor R.J. Perrotti said even though he will be leaving his post after 12 years, he wanted to make sure the township made a decision in the best interests of future residents.<\/p><\/div>\n

After the meeting, Simpson said the selection process for hiring three part-time officers, who will enable the department to staff the presently uncovered 2 to 6 a.m. shift \u201cwill begin tomorrow.\u201d He said he hoped to have the additional staff trained by late summer. \u201cThis is something\u2019s that\u2019s long overdue,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

Nearly 30 residents attended the meeting, and the seven who spoke expressed support for the 24\/7 coverage. \u201cI\u2019ll pay more taxes for safety,\u201d said Art Santoro, a retired Delaware State Police lieutenant who echoed the sentiments of several residents.<\/p>\n

But Norris said keeping expenses in check was a top priority after the board just raised taxes 116 percent, the first increase in 30 years. \u201cWe\u2019re very cognizant of not doing that again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Simpson said he was also mindful of staying within budgets. He said by adding the extra officers, the department would be better able to cover time-off requests as well as reduce overtime expenses.\u00a0 He said he expected the cost of the extra manpower \u2013 estimated at $52,400 –\u00a0 to be offset by other savings, primarily the overtime reduction,\u00a0 bringing the total cost to about $23,000 to $28,000.<\/p>\n

Lindenlauf said members of the police association were willing to make concessions because the community will benefit.\u00a0 He said the decision came down to \u201cwhat\u2019s best\u201d to serve residents. He acknowledged some \u201cgnashing of teeth\u201d over the planned reduction in overtime hours, but he said the township\u2019s growth necessitates the change.<\/p>\n

In response to a question from Norris about what would happen if the pilot program was stopped, Simpson said, \u201cFailure is not an option.\u201d\u00a0 He expressed confidence that all parties were committed to making the experiment work.\u00a0 \u201cIf both management and labor adopt a \u2018win-win\u2019 philosophy, we will never have to face this question. \u00a0The pressure is equal on both labor and management to make this succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson said the average response time for New Garden\u2019s 12,000 residents when township officers are covering the township\u2019s 17 square miles is six minutes, which can be\u00a0 \u201ca long time\u201d in an emergency. He said the state police \u2013 who \u201care doing a lot with a little\u201d \u2013 do not release response times; however, they serve more than 92,000 residents spread over 207 miles, averaging three cars on the road during a shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a believer in getting in front of problems,\u201d\u00a0 Simpson said. \u201cWe should be out there [between 2 and 6 a.m.] creating a barrier\u201d between residents and those who would take advantage of the gap in coverage.<\/p>\n

Supervisor R.J. Perrotti questioned whether the township should help subsidize other municipalities\u2019 police coverage by freeing up the state police to focus its efforts outside New Garden, but Norris said a legislative proposal for a per-capita tax for state-police coverage failed. Perrotti also expressed fear that the costs will rise and that Simpson was creating more work for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hired me to tackle some problems, \u201c said Simpson. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m doing.\u201d He reminded residents that he wasn\u2019t Carnac the Magnificent, a psychic\u00a0 created by comedian Johnny Carson, but he said he would make every effort to contain expenses. He also said he envisions a push toward regional policing in the future.<\/p>\n

Complimenting Simpson on the sincerity and professionalism of his presentation, Norris said, \u201cYou are the finest thing to happen to New Garden in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men and women of the Police Department make that easy for me,\u201d Simpson responded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporters say it will greatly improve safety at reasonable cost By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times New Garden Township\u2019s supervisors authorized a pilot program Wednesday night that will provide 24-hour-a-day police coverage. The supervisors\u2019 unanimous decision came after a nearly two-hour meeting that included a presentation by Police Chief Gerald R. Simpson, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[2537,686,2538,2536,2535,2085],"class_list":["post-7296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-new-garden-police-officers-association","tag-new-garden-township","tag-new-garden-township-supervisor-r-j-perrotti","tag-officer-gerard-m-lindenlauf","tag-police-chief-gerald-r-simpson","tag-supervisor-bob-norris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}