By Andrew Martins
Staff Writer
JACKSON – Differing opinions between Township Council members and Police Chief Matthew Kunz regarding the presence of a Lakewood neighborhood watch group in Jackson came to a head during a recent council meeting as officials acted to take a stand against the organization that hails from outside the municipality’s borders.
A resolution that seeks to restrict cooperation between the Jackson Police Department and neighborhood watch groups that come from outside Jackson was passed in a unanimous vote by council members on May 10.
According to council President Robert Nixon, a group known as the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch has allegedly been seen operating in Jackson. Nixon said the watch’s members have gotten involved in emergency situations in Jackson near the municipality’s border with Lakewood.
“Public safety is the most important obligation of any government. Anything that even remotely calls to question that obligation has to be immediately addressed,” Nixon said.
The Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch is a nonprofit group that is based in Lakewood and is reported to interact with the Lakewood Police Department in certain instances. No one representing the safety watch addressed the Jackson council when the resolution was considered for passage.
The issue was initially brought before the council in April. Since then, Councilman Barry Calogero said, he has received complaints from residents who are concerned about an encroachment of jurisdiction by the Lakewood group.
“I received numerous calls from irate, concerned, frustrated and, quite honestly, fed up residents as it relates to the continuing presence of the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch patrolling Jackson in a way that can be described as the intentional impersonation of police officers,” Calogero said. “While all are welcome to live freely in Jackson and enjoy our township, we do not need an outside township patrolling our streets.”
In response to residents’ concerns that were expressed in April, council members asked Kunz to meet with representatives of the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch on May 5.
In a May 5 post on the Jackson Police Department Facebook page, the department wrote that Kunz, Capt. Steven Laskiewicz, Lt. John Convery and Lt. Thomas Hratko met with representatives of the Lakewood watch group and Lakewood Police Chief Robert Lawson and determined the organization was “cognizant of its limitations” as a civilian group.
“No evidence of the alleged activities was discovered or corroborated in the course of investigating the matter,” the police department wrote on Facebook. “They do not ‘patrol’ in Jackson, nor do they have plans to do so.”
The watch group’s vehicles are clearly marked and use amber lights, rather than red and blue lights associated with emergency services vehicles, and the group occasionally works with the Lakewood Police Department by observing and reporting incidents to the police, Kunz said.
“The Lakewood Police Department does interact with [the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch] in certain circumstances, akin to the support a Community Emergency Response Team provides via the Office of Emergency Management,” the police department wrote. “Members of the (watch) are trained to make observations and report them to the police department, not to take law enforcement action.”
After discussing the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch operations, representatives of the Jackson Police Department invited any watch group associates or acquaintances who reside in Jackson and who wish to initiate a neighborhood watch program to do so, according to the Facebook post.
That invitation sparked an outcry among Jackson residents, council members and the administration. Those parties saw the offer from the police to the safety watch as a direct contradiction of what the people wanted.
“It is clear to me that [Kunz] completely disregarded the clear and unequivocal position of the governing body on this matter,” Nixon said. “That [Kunz] ‘invited’ [the safety watch] to propose neighborhood watches to get involved in Jackson is essentially the opposite of the message we asked [Kunz] to deliver.”
During the May 10 meeting, Calogero said the Jackson Police Department should be able to patrol the township, given that seven new officers have been hired in the past three years.
According to the resolution the council passed, the Jackson Police Department is prohibited from working with neighborhood watch groups that are not based in Jackson.
“With a strong, functional police force … why would we allow this outside organization to patrol and intimidate Jackson residents with marked cars?” Calogero asked.
The resolution requires that any neighborhood watch group in Jackson only receive assistance from state, federal, county or local law enforcement agencies. Neighborhood watch groups are prohibited from receiving vehicles, uniforms, training or assistance from outside agencies.
“Neighborhood watches have their place, but they can’t take the place of police, fire and first responders,” Nixon said. “They can’t go out and interfere with law enforcement activities or arrive at the home of a resident who calls for assistance in place of those first responders. It is simply too dangerous and too prone to abuse to have untrained civilians replace [those services].”
The council’s resolution encourages Jackson residents to call 911 during an emergency before reaching out to a neighborhood watch group.
“Some will say we are overreacting and that anybody has the right to call anyone they want to come and handle a problem, but I have to say that is why we have 911 and our emergency personnel are qualified, trained and experienced. They can handle it,” Nixon said.
