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Poll: Should Towns Have Declined the Police Consolidation?

Now that all of the towns in the area have declined, what do you think?

 

With Warren Township's vote last night to decline participation in the police consolidation plan, we wondered if residents believe that was the right thing to do.

Warren was the fourth of the four municipalities in eastern Somerset County in a planned precinct to say no, with Watchung, Green Brook and North Plainfield similarly choosing not to participate.

All of the towns felt consolidating police would reduce the number of officers available in their municipality, lead to problems with dispatchers and regional officers lack of knowledge of the towns. Officials also said the savings—estimated to be less than $100 annually per property after 10 years—just wasn't enough to risk it.

But many residents want any kind of tax relief they can get—and they may feel $100 is better than nothing. 

What do you think? Take our poll and add your comments in the box below. 

 

  • Poll: Should Towns Have Declined Police Consolidation?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Yes: Officials were right that service would be lost and the savings wasn't substantial enough.
        3 (50%)
    • No: Officials should take advantage of any savings possible.
        3 (50%)
    Total votes: 6
    • Your vote will only count once. This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: Police Consolidation

Anthony Perrucci

8:34 am on Sunday, August 19, 2012

John:
Yes. Individual municipalities were spot on in rejecting the consolidation because past practice by government agencies to reduce costs have continually added more taxes due to "unforseen circumstances". Taxpayers of Somerset County municipalities would have realized disproportional savings when compared to individual municipalities. Additionally, the savings were not immediate but took years to be realized if ever. In the end, there were too many factors for some municipalities to be gained such as: The age of police cruisers in towns, hierarchy of police officials, age and repairs of bldgs. to be retained, etc., etc..
There are multiple areas of consolidation to be found in Somerset County. This particular venue would not serve individual municipalities but in the extended long run cost taxpayers more. Unfortunately, taxpayer dollars were most likely wasted commissioning this study.

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