HOWELL – The Township Council has set Aug. 15 as the date for a public hearing on an ordinance that will, if adopted, permit the township manager to hire Class III special law enforcement officers for the Howell Police Department.
The ordinance was introduced by the council on July 18.
Under state law, Class III officers may provide security in public and nonpublic schools and county colleges, and a board of education is authorized to hire law enforcement officers and public school resource officers.
An individual is eligible to be appointed as a Class III officer if he is a retired police officer under the age of 65 and has served as a duly qualified, fully trained, full-time municipal or county police officer, or was regularly employed as a full-time member of the New Jersey State Police.
Class III officers have to be physically capable of performing the job and have the appropriate law enforcement and safe schools resource officer training. Safe schools resource officer training can be provided by Howell police, however, it is preferred if the candidate already possesses this required training, according to municipal officials.
Class III officers will be hired in a part-time capacity and will be assigned to Howell’s elementary and middle schools. There are 12 schools in the district.
The council and the Howell K-8 School District Board of Education have agreed to split the $300,000 cost of the Class III officers for the 2017 fiscal year.
According to a resolution passed by the council, the shared services agreement between the township and the board for the creation of a Class III program will run from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020.
Mayor Theresa Berger, Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro, Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell and Councilman Bob Walsh voted to approve the Class III program.
Councilwoman Pauline Smith voted no and said, “It is not what I voted for in the budget. I said I would only vote in favor of a one-year contribution and let next year worry about next year, but suddenly it is $150,000 (a year for three years) instead of $100,000 (a year for three years) and I am not going to vote for that.”
Township Manager Jeff Mayfield said Class III special officers will be paid $20.25 per hour.
Howell Superintendent of Schools Joseph Isola praised the agreement with the township and said he hopes to place Class III officers in schools in September.
“We could have rented retired officers on our own, but it is not about putting armed guards in the building,” Isola said. “For us it was about restoring school resource officer programs through the special law enforcement officer program.
“We opted not to just hire security guards, that is not what this model is about, that is not what I believe in. I believe in community policing, having officers in schools with the children, working on ‘stranger danger’ for the little guys, drug awareness … all those types of things that enhance law enforcement and school partnerships and put our kids and our community in a safer setting,” Isola said.
He said one desired outcome of the Class III program is that children will develop a positive view of law enforcement and police officers will get to know the youngsters in the community.
“We do not want an environment where kids think that if an officer is in school there is a problem. We want kids to know that police are part of the solution,” Isola said. “There has always been a tremendous partnership between the school district and the police department, and Chief (Andrew) Kudrick continues to strengthen that.”
