BARNEGAT – The Barnegat Police Department have announced their new neighborhood policing program.
In 2018, Barnegat achieved the lowest crime rate in Ocean County, they said. The town still sustains a crime rate that is as much as 75 percent lower than the crime rates of the 90s, with continuing this achievement through 2019 and 2020.
The department declared they will be starting the Neighborhood Policing Program because they want to continue to improve communication and collaboration with the community.
In a post the department released, they described how in the old days, residents knew who their police officers were without the barrier of automobiles. They stated how officers knew the neighborhood and knew the residents, and residents were comfortable approaching officers whenever there’s a problem. Back then officers were able to identify hyper-local problems and solve them before they grew any bigger.
Presently, the connection between the community and officers has been lost due to now having larger areas needing officers on a regular basis. This has officers cut-off from the community in cars for the majority of their shifts.
With this in mind, the department wants to strengthen their relationship with the community by creating nine Neighborhood Policing Zones (NPZs). This allows officers to build familiarity with the residents and know their concerns.
According to the department, residents of the NPZs will be given the identity and contact information of their officers. If there is a problem or concern in the neighborhood they can reach out for their specific neighborhood officers.
Not only will residents get to know their officers better, but in turn the officers will get to know the people within their neighborhood and better identify any local problems.
“Barnegat residents have made a significant investment in the Barnegat Police Department over the years, and while we’re proud of the historic low crime rates we’ve achieved, we want to provide more value to the community,” said Chief Keith Germain. “We’ve got a great community in Barnegat and cops who are outstanding problem solvers. We’re excited to see what we can accomplish as a community by building our relationships and problem solving together.”
To learn more about the Neighborhood Policing, visit barnegatpolice.us.
