Hopewell Township heard public input as officials move forward in the process of hiring a temporary police director to head the police department.
During a virtual special meeting on Sept. 1, Hopewell Township Committeewoman Julie Blake led a discussion with hired police consultant Jonathan Parham, retired Chief of Linden Police, to receive input from residents on what they would like to see from the new police director.
“We are looking at this time for a civilian police director. There were some things that happened locally that concerned people,” Blake said. “We had an event that allowed for us to put a pause button to kind of do an assessment of what our police department is about, what we are doing and best practices.”
Questions and input included hiring someone with experience in dealing with diverse communities, transparency, qualifications, and morale of officers when a police director is leading the department instead of a police chief.
Responding to police morale with a director leading the department and potential problems low morale could cause for reform, Parham stated that tensions can be addressed by giving the officers the opportunity to voice their opinions.
“We start with surveys looking to elicit responses from the officers to figure out what is your thought on what is going on, how can we improve and what are the things we can do,” he said. “It takes time to get those responses and takes time for officers to open up to provide those answers. We absolutely encourage officers to speak to people about the issues they are having.”
Hopewell Township Committee members approved implementing the police director position after the retirement of former Chief of Police Lance Maloney, which went into effect on Aug. 1.
“Members of PBA 342 want to express their support for maintaining the position of chief of police for our department over civilian director. Hiring an individual outside our ranks to attempt to lead us can be counterproductive,” said Vinnie Amabile, Hopewell Township PBA Local 342, during the public discussions. “The candidates for the chief position are highly qualified and we are confident whoever is chosen will go far and above what is expected of them.”
The temporary position gives the committee time to conduct a thorough process for naming a new chief or search for a permanent director if the committee chooses that route for the police department.
“We thought that instead of going straight to the next chief we would put this pause button on and hire a civilian director, so we would have time to asses the police department. We have put an advertisement in multiple sites,” Blake said. “We currently have 15 applicants.”
The application process for the civilian police director position will close on Sept. 4.
“The Hopewell Township Committee would like a full functioning police force with a chief in place. That being said these are early days we want to do an assessment to see what that would look like and what those best practices would be,” she added. “Those are our goals and what we are thinking about.”
The director does not have any of the powers that are reserved for sworn officers, according to state documents. The powers unavailable for police directors include conducting a motor vehicle stop; stop, detain or arrest individuals; wearing a law enforcement officer uniform; handling any internal investigations or any active cases; and they will not be able to view any videos of active cases.
Acting chief of police, Lt. William Springer, will remain in his current position until a police director is hired. Once a police director is selected, Springer will then be named acting officer in charge. Springer will be in charge of day-to-day operations regarding policing.
The director would stay in power so long as the committee determines it appropriate.
“The timeline is open. I anticipate that the position will be for three months or more depending on how much time we need,” Blake said.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is going to establish a monitor to oversee the police department’s internal affairs. The monitor is to perform the internal affairs function until a chief of police or someone else in the police department can do the job.
Because Springer is now the officer in charge he cannot perform the internal affairs function, which is a function he oversaw as the previous internal affairs officer for the department.
