Camden County is moving to establish a regionalized police and fire department to reduce public safety costs while continuing to provide protection for county citizens. The proposed shared services agreement model will allow municipalities to choose to join and then pay for the services to their community.
“As a product of discussions with some Camden County mayors, the County is taking the leadership role in regionalizing police and fire services,” said Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. “There will be no additional cost to county taxpayers, since each municipality will fund the operation based on its requirements. Whether municipalities join is up to them, and we will have a series of meetings with all stakeholders, including mayors, police and fire chiefs, as well as outside experts for input as we pursue this course.”
Any municipality that chooses to enter into a shared services agreement with the County would eliminate the costs of its own police force and instead reimburse the County for the costs of the police and fire services. Also under the plan, municipal police officers and firefighters whose positions are eliminated will be eligible for hire by the County police and fire departments. Existing Public Safety equipment would be transitioned from the participating municipalities to the County police and fire departments.
The county already has other shared services agreements, such as the emergency 911 system and the county library system. Nationwide, there is a trend towards county police departments.
“The topic of a county police force has been discussed for years,” said Freeholder Director Cappelli. “Much like the heralded 911 system, regionalized police and fire services will promote efficiencies, reducing redundancy and saving taxpayers money.”
New Jersey Law (N.J.S.A. 40A: 14–106) permits the creation of a county police department and grants the county police officers all of the general law enforcement powers of municipal police officers. Now that this plan has been established, the county will be talking and working with everyone involved to put together an effective model and plan.
Check back to cherryhillsun.com and future print editions for more details.
