Hillsborough Opposes Police Consolidation

Hillsborough Township has decided that now is not the right time to join an effort to consolidate police departments into a single countywide police department.

The Township Committee had an Aug. 1 deadline to notify county officials whether the township wanted to join the consolidation effort.

But Mayor Carl Suraci said at Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting that because close to half of Somerset County municipalities had already declined to explore regionalization, the projected savings of $3.7 million over 10 years would not be realized. 

“For all intents and purposes, there will not be a county police department at this point,” he said.

Suraci said he talked to Richard Celeste, director of the Somerset County Police Academy and vice chairman of the consolidation task force, who explained that the lack of municipal involvement would not result in the economies of scale.

But township committee members said they will still consider ways to share services on a smaller scale.

“It’s disappointing that so many towns came out against it so quickly,” said Committeeman Doug Tomson. “We will continue searching for alternatives.”

In April, a feasibility study showed that a consolidated police department would save county taxpayers $44 million over the next 10 years.

But that may be a “conservative” figure, said Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R- 16th District), a Hillsborough resident, who sparked the consolidation study during his term as freeholder. The savings could range up to $100 million over the next decade, he said.

Ciattarelli emphasized however that municipalities should consider not only the quantitative aspects of a possible consolidation, but also the “qualitative” aspects.

Savings for Somerset County municipalities over a 10-year period were projected to range from $338,770 in Peapack-Gladstone to $8.6 million in Franklin. Savings for other towns include Far Hills, $526,513; Bedminster, $804,983; Bernardsville, $983,417; Warren, $1.3 million; Bernards, $1.4 million; Green Brook, $1.6 million; Watchung, $2.5 million; Hillsborough, $3.7 million and Bridgewater, $4.4 million.

The county now has 19 police departments with 594 officers. The feasibility study found that the “optimal” number of police officers is 606 with 62 civilian employees, 50 less than present. Savings will be realized by reducing the number of superior officers by 43 through attrition so that the ratio of superior officers to patrol officers is increased. The study also forsees more patrol officers, meaning “more boots on the ground,” said Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano, chairman of the task force that authored the study. No officers will lose their jobs.

The countywide police department would be divided into five precincts:

• Precinct 1: Bedminster, Bernards, Bernardsville, Peapack-Gladstone and Far Hills.
• Precinct 2: Green Brook, North Plainfield, Warren and Watchung.
• Precinct 3: Branchburg, Bridgewater, Raritan, Somerville and Bound Brook.
• Precinct 4: Hillsborough, Manville, Millstone, Montgomery and Rocky Hill.
• Precinct 5: Franklin and South Bound Brook.

But the countywide police department never gathered traction in the northern part of the county and Bridgewater officials had also expressed reluctance to join the effort.   

Gov. Chris Christie told a radio audience on Tuesday evening that he supports legislation sponsored by State Senate President Steve Sweeney that will put municipalities at risk of losing state aid if they do not share services to save taxes.