EXCLUSIVE: Police Chief Rob Lawson tells TLS that with the current size of the Lakewood Police Department, the force cannot provide the efficient police work to properly police the town. “We just cannot maintain and provide efficient proactive police work without hiring more cops”, Police Chief Rob Lawson says. “Residents want more patrolling and more proactive police work, but with the size of the force, it’s very difficult”, says the Chief.
According to the recent Census report, Lakewood has a population of 92,843. The Lakewood Police Department force – after the recent retirements – currently stands at 115, which is a ratio of 1 officer for every 807 residents.
Brick Township, has a population of 75,072 according to the recent Census and a police force of 125, which is 1 officer for every 600 residents.
Toms River, which has a population of 91,239, has a police force of 153, Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy tells TLS, which works out to one cop for every 596 residents. Toms River had a force of 160 just a few months ago Mastronardy said, but lost several officers due to retirement.
Chief Lawson says the numbers are astonishing.
“We have more gangs and more crime in Lakewood, yet less cops”, Chief Lawson said. “It just doesn’t make sense”.
“If you ask the residents whose homes were never broken into, they may say we don’t need more cops, but you’ll get a different answer when speaking to those whose homes were burglarized”, the Chief said.
“We’re trying to do our best with what we have – working smarter and more efficient – but we can’t endanger the public’s safety”, the Chief said in an earlier interview with TLS.
Since that interview, several more high ranking officials of the department retired.
According to a TLS poll yesterday, approximately 54% of residents say the Township should hire more police, even if it would mean their taxes may rise. TLS.
nice of him to announce this- He is the Chief so let him HIRE MORE!!!! WHAT DOES HE WANT FROM US?!?!
Why not hire more officers with the money saved by the retirement of several higher ranking and higher paid officers. If the department would put two men in the cars instead of one they would not have to purchase more police vehicles. It would be safer for the officers as well since they would have their immediate backup officer with them.
money to hire more officers….Without the permission of the Township Committee..and some money ..no more officers can be hired..
MONEY$$$$
well he’s just getting the message out to the public which is really important for people to hear. i understand the part about taxes but that should be the least of our worries. we simply need more officers in this town to help keep things under control. i fully support and respect each and every officer working to keep this town safe and secure. but we do need more help. thank you to the lakewood police department for doing everything in your power to fight against crime.
We all know of the excellent relationship that the Chief has with the Township Committee and especially with the Mayor. I say that if he really is sincere about hiring more officers let him come out with a joint statement together with the TC pledging to expand the police force.
We all applaud the chief for the great job which he does but let’s see some concrete actions.
Keep up the good work!
less abatements can mean more officers.
How many shifts does brick and toms river have? And how many cops on each shift? How much does a brick and toms river cop get paid? How much tax does brick and toms river residents pay?
Now lets get the same info from lakewood and COMPARE!
And WHY does the night shift (a time with more crime) have less cops than the day shift?
I’m not sure i get the math,in Lakewood its not one cop for 800 because 99% of Lakewood don’t really come on to cops except for the occasional accident or 1 in 1,000 domestic depute, which leads me to ask why cant Lakewood keep 15 cops for the needs of the community and allocate 100 to combat gangs and crime? Just an honest question, i think alot of people have. An answer from someone in the know, would be greatly appreciated
I fully support hiring more cops but not at the expense of higher taxes, if you want to hire more cops then the corresponding number of public works, workers needs to be laid off
What is the ratio in the other townships of people who the police don’t have to be busy with to the troublemakers.
In our communities, there is an extremely high percentage of people not committing any crimes, so although the population is 92,843, the police do not have to be busy with most of them.
Occasional accident? Have you driven in Lakewood??
I’m not affiliated w/the LPD, but common sense tells me that more people are awake and calling the police during the day, more accidents, more arguments, just more people in general- THAT is why there might be more officers working during the day. If that’s really the case.
y don`t tthey hire lower class officers like the chief advised uus of, i think they are called class 2???
to avi. You prob meant the frequent accident!
While Lawson is probably sincere in his assessment and more cops are needed, residents must ask themselves one important question. What do you do when you are on a fixed income and something comes up that is a matter of safety and you must absolutely spend money on? You cut spending somewhere else which will allow you to free up some revenue for the higher priority expense. We must demand the same from our elected officials. The tax rolls are not an endless source of revenue.
Everywhere in NJ they have this problem not only lkwd. Cut different places hire more cops
This is a an honest assesment from the man who does have all the facts , he could not have said it better ,Lakewood has more crime and fewer officers than surrounding towns That is a fact .If we think the crime issue is just going to go away on its own ,thats just plain nuts. After the tragic event of Officer Matlosz being gunned down ,if that does not open everyones eyes then I don’t know what it would take to make the citizens of this town understand the issue with crime here in Lakewood. Yes more officers is not the only thing that need to be addressed but its the right first step.
Chief Lawson you have my full support and would hope that those who run this town do also
How much of the tax money goes to the police force? If they were to hire 30 more police officers how much would the taxes go up? I bet if they raised the taxes just to cover the newly hired officers the taxes would not raise very much.
anyone consider better quality cops not QuantatY? Better Trained, More Focused Maybe New Leadership?
There were about 8 retirements from the PD in the past few months. Each of then were probably earning more than $100,000 each. That’s about $800,000 more the department has with which to hire about 16 new cops at a much lower starting salary, without raising our taxes.
i think we should hold a fundraiser! Like a huge dinner and band with singers, and maybe we will raise some $$ to protect our children.
Why not start shomrim like Brooklyn did ! it worked there let’s get it started here and protect oursleves!
THIS IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF BALOGNA I HAVE EVER READ ON TLS> YES WE HAVE 90k+ RESIDENTS> HOW MANY OF THOSE RESIDENTS NEED SERIOUS ‘POLICING’ BY COMPARISON TO REGULAR COMMUNITIES> LAKEWOOD PEOPLE ARE GOOD LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY DOESNT GET INTO GUN FIGHTS, WE DONT BREAK INTO OTHER HOMES, OUR TEENS ARE MUCH MORE TAME BY AND LARGE. WE DONT DRINK AND DRIVE IN THE SAME PERCENTAGES> CHIEF- YOUR COPS ARE OUT ON CLIFTON HARASSING WOMEN GOING FOR THEIR SHABBOS SHOPPING AND HANGING OUT IN FRONT OF SHULS TICKETING PEOPLE> FOR G-D’S SAKES- SEND YOUR PATROLS TO THE TROUBLE POINTS AND LOOSEN UP IN THE AREAS WHICH WE ALL KNOW ARE NOt PROBELMATIC> WHILE HORNAK IS TICKETING PPL DOWNTOWN FOR DOUBLE PARKING, THERE ARE PEOPLE SELLING COCAINE UPSTAIRS OVERLOOKING CLIFTON AVENUE> PLEASE- BE HONEST.
Avi, you must be living in a dream world if you think the “community” does not take up the resources of the LPD.
Chief, I say hire whomever you need! And for the rest of the town, stop penny pinching where the need is the greatest.
Go after the tax cheats to get the money needed for the cops!
To # 22. Please unlock Caps Lock for future comments, as per the comment rules.
Thank you.
Both brick and toms river make more than lakewood cops, check app.com data universe its at least 10k less. Brick and Toms river have more cops, less residents, and less violent crime. Wake up Lakewood and hire more cops. Also there is a list called the Rice list which compiles a list of every laid off cop in the state. Hire the experience cops before hiring new ones. And by the way you save over 3k for not sending them to the police academy.
need more money?? thats a hard sell, lkwd has a lot of tax exempt properties and there will be more coming in the next few years. the only way to get more money is to (and i hate to say it) raise the tax rate, let the state take control of the public school system, and when the township sells land to be returned to the tax rolls forbid tax exempt organizations from bidding. the township is running a pretty tight ship as it is.they have cut to the bare bone already and every dept has given up something (although i`m not sure about the teachers in the public schools).
Let them focus more on criminals rather then focusing on issuing tickets for every small thing.
why do other townships have more cops and LOWER taxes? this doesn’t add up!!!
I agree 100% with #22
agrees with #22.
I agree with #22 almost 100%. ( I probably wouldn’t capatalize EVERY word) Our resources must be managed better, and their focus should be on what is causing the crime statistics to go up.
Just because there is a lot of crime doesn’t mean you need more cops. It may mean that you are not getting the most of what you have. It’s like adding more teachers to the public schools because students underachieve. Sometimes you just need better teachers. I’m not sating that you need better cops. I’m saying that maybe take a look at the system. Have more cops patrol the high crime areas, and less cops standing around looking for people who roll through stop signs in the middle of the night. Why do we have to jump to the “we need more” solution.
#22 Right On. Refocus on what counts not hire more officers to antagonize the residents that pay their salaries.
#32 It is proven that child does better in smaller classes, due to more one on one attention. A larger police presence would also me more one on 600 or so attention. There are reason for ALL of our laws even the smallest ones. For your own example rolling throught a stop sign seems innocent, untill your child is crossing right there and are hit. Only then it becomes a problem? That’s foolish. If they are ticketed that will make them think twice before rolling througt a stop sign, and potenially saving a life. So I agree 100% with increasing our police force!
Has rob Lawson even considered getting help and guidance from an outsider? Maybe we should hire someone good from the NYPD to retrain and refocus this dept. It’s easy to just ask tax payers for more money, anyone can do that.
You say there is not a lot of crime in Lakewood so why hire more police. Well there is not a lot of fires in town so why did the fire dept hire more paid firefighters? What is wrong with the vol.
#22 you are seriously a bitter person , not a good way to go through life .
another words its always the other guys fault ~ really
and who rents to those selling cocaine , there’s enough blame to go arround stop making the police out to be the problem when it the other way arround they are here for all the residence of Lakewood for ALL violations on every level from minor infractions to major crime
Let’s get one thing straight, I was an officer on LPD. Sometimes proactive police work on small violations lead to bigger things. The more stops you make the more likely you are to find the bad apples. In the mean time the lights and sirens of a police pulling over vehicles deters other crime in that location. All crimes are in all areas of town and in every community. I know that in aLakewood a car was pulled over for a headlight not working properly and two suspects from a murder were arrested from that vehicle. I know that a simple motor vehicle stop for failure to signal resulted in the arrest of three known gang members with a fully automatic machine gun with a fully loaded 30 round magazine. All in Lakewood. These are just a few examples. The number of police officers directly relates to being just a responsive department as opposed to a proactive one. The criminals and gangs feel comfortable that they can get away with just about anything. Proactive policing can not stop it but can surely reduce the crime.
more cops will not stop criminals this is unions flexing their muscles.
Yeah that makes sense bring in someone from NY. Different laws apply from state to state. NY is not NJ don’t understand how someone from NY will help. Unless you want to PAY for their training in NJ law
More cops for LPD will not reduce the crime and gangs. LPD’s primary mission is to protect the rent and unregulated income derived from gangs and illegals. The more gangs and illegals in this town the more perceived need for stronger LPD and the more money in the pockets of those responsible for the rise in crime in Lakewood and the whole country in the first place.
39- the chief is not part of the unions. keep drinking the kool aid.
#34 Just because smaller classes results in better education, doesn’t mean that it’s the solution. adding bad teachers as apposed to hiring good teachers is not helping the education system. Yes you can’t roll through stop signs and it’s dangerous, but putting a cop at every corner may not be the answer. How about educating everyone about the dangerous. That’s probably more effective then a ticket. All im saying is that more is not always the answer. I would expect put police cheif, and TC to explore other options before jumping to raise our taxes. If they reach the conclusion that they need more then so be it.
please get with it people.. brick & tr pd have not much a population difference then lakewood. the crime rate is just about the same in each town.. exception would have to be the murders.. approx the same amount of pd on shift as lakewood?? freeze pay twp wide for 2 yrs? look into solar or green as much as possible for twp buildings.
I don’t think the chief is asking for a cop on every corner, just an adequate number given our population and issues. Towns like Brick and Toms River have large populations of seniors who do not commit crimes, no where near the amount of gang activity, and less crime. They have many more officers than Lakewood and lower populations. The argument that the jewish community does not call on the LPD because they do not typically commit crimes is wrong. The police are not only here to stop hardened criminals but to respond to simple calls for service, traffic issues, etc. The seniors and jewish community in Lakewood utilize the LPD for all these things- also when they are victims. It isn’t ONLY a population issue, but clearly we dn not have enough officers to handle everything they do now and do any more than that. THAT is dangerous.
I do not think that hiring more cops means taxes have to go up, I think people are just feeding on the public’s fears by playing that card. The money is there, it needs to be used differently. If the politicians say it’s not, then they are not doing there jobs. Safety should be the number one priority. It is the same as an individual’s health, without it you have nothing.
Lakewood, could use more cops- but the crime wont stop. Police officers cant kick criminals out of the town. once out of jail- where does the criminal come home to? LAKEWOOD.
[housing authority & code enforcement]
1) How about we finally get housing authority & code enforcement to wake-up. The housing authority & code enforcement has been paid under the tables by slum-lords & not enforcing zoning, and boarding codes. How does one illegal who rents a 2 or 3 bedroom condo(woodlake/golf view/high point/conventry/house,etc) then moves in 5-6other of his buddies get away with it!? (2 adults per bedroom maximum!) Most houses that have illegals will have double the legal amount, if not triple. and no one checks up on this situation- and fine the slum-lords!
[slum-lords]
2) the same questions from question1 could be asked of the slum lords that allow illegals & ex-cons to live in their rentals. you dont want ex-cons and illegals in your town- DONT GIVE THEM A PLACE TO LIVE!
EVERY LAND-LORD IN LAKEWOOD can fight crime, and reduce it starting TODAY. the answer is simple- DONT LET CRIMINALS(yes, illegals are criminals too- even if they have no criminal backgrounds) LIVE IN YOUR UNITS/TOWN!!!!
cheif lawson is correct. How about s a pecial gang unit that will not leave the neighborhood until the gang does. Shouldn’t take more than 6-12 months to rid lakewood of gangs if the whole community puts its mind to it. Make life soo miserable for them that they have to leave.
To the posters who say that the orthodox community does not use police resources. The majority of car accidents in Lakewood are involving orthodox residents. The majority of tickets issued are to the orthodox community. This is not a racist or hateful thing to say. Its true and it doesnt speak badly about anyone. When you have a town thats 75% of a particular group, chances are they will be involved in most of the car accidents and issued most of the traffic violations etc..
To say that orthodox people use hardly any resources is a great fallacy. Its quiet ignorant. Besides the car accidents, traffic violations. How about if someone robs your house. You call the police. If there is a fire, you call the police. If you have a new torah celebration, the police are there once again. If there is some sort of event or the like with many cars, the police are there once again directing traffic. Lets be real. The orthodox use alot of police resources, maybe not because of murders or drugs but thankfully that does not happen everyday.
there are many police officers that are assigned to desk detail, lets free some of them and get them on the street. lets also cut back from other dept. tax office, and the other offices. we can cutback on township hours similar to jackson.
Couldn’t have said better..
What’s so innocent about ‘rolling through stop signs’ ?
The law says…complete stop.
What’s so innocent about ‘double parking’ ?
What’s the law say?
Why is it so hard to follow laws that pertain to safety?
Can’t stop completely at a stop sign or can’t park legally or use a turn signal device then why complain about the penalty when in violation.
Stick your hand in fire…will it hurt?
Drive like a fool….is there consequences to pay?
Closing a window after sundown….what’s the punishment?
Are we not to obey all laws so we won’t have to pay the penalties?
Let’s point fingers at others for our short comings.
Does that make our violations legal?
#19 – you forgot about pensions and health insurance etc., even if they aren’t working, our tax dollars are still paying them! It’s an unsustainable system. I think that’s what they were trying to cut when they came to that agreement.
make a force just for the gangs pay them well then cut cut the force in town since not needed[unless to give out parking tickets]
You can enact all the laws you want, those laws don’t get enforced unless there are officers to enforce them. Lets see I see a lot of people saying this and that about things they know nothing about. I think the rule of thumb is 2 officers for every 1000 people you do the math in a town with 93,000 people that were reported which means it’s probably closer to 100,000 with all the undocumented aliens. With the number being 93,000 the town would need 186 officers, that is a pretty big gap from 115. Split that number up for 3 shifts, detective bureau, traffic safety, administration and all this means Lakewood is no where near the number of officers needed in this town. Now throw in the fact that this is a high crime town, to go along with all the other calls police have to answer, 911 hang ups, false business alarms, false fire alarms, false residential alarms, motor vehicle crashes, writing tickets so on and so forth you tell me where the number of officers should be compared to where they are?
to #51
I think the officers pay into the pension, and some percentage of their insurance as well. Stick with what you know, what that is I have no idea but stick to it…..
to # 54 “I think the officers pay into the pension, and some percentage of their insurance as well.” Stick to what you KNOW and not what you THINK. # 51 is right. Although they paid some into it, your taxes are paying the rest. Its like social security.
What ever happened to Posting Rule No. 4?
justplainstupid- do you pay 100% of your benefits?? Most people don’t. As for the pensions- the only money going into the pension fund the past few years is the 8.5% the officers themselves are legally required to put in. Your TAXES haven’t paid a dime into their pension fund in years. Ask your politicians what they’ve been doing with the funds they’ve collected that were supposed to pay in.
Thank you for your service.
Your comment was well said and articulate.
I sure learned a lot from your post.
Quite frankly, your post changed my perspective on minor traffic infranctions and how they are used in fighting felony crime.
I hope others learned too.
Once again, I salute you Sir for your service.
# 48 you are so right, we pay more for buses than we do cops , look on your tax and you well see , that is if you pay tax.Land lords stop renting to them, but than the landlords are the same people that are crying no more cops
I am confused. You quote the Chief on the results of the census and then you say more high ranking officials have retired since this interview. The census results just came out last week. Nobody from the PD has retired yet this year.
Yes, some of you are correct. There are quite a few Officers and at least one Supervisor who are assigned to a desk doing duties that could be done by a civilian, an intern, a temp, or another township worker for 1/3 of the price. With any business, agency or government there are bosses. Where you have bosses you have a select few workers who “ride the wave” and are protected by one of the bosses who guarantee them their easy job. Should any of these bosses leave, as their age may dictate, you may see some changes.
#57 Thank you for bringing up a valid point, as opposed to the ignorant ramblings of all these “experts”. The town has not paid a dime into the pension system in a decade. Where did all that money go? Maybe to that fantastic overpriced public works complex with all those buildings so snow plows don’t get wet. With fancy overpriced furniture for the “executives” who work there.
to retired Lkwd officer.
although i dont side your opposing opinion completely.
however, your argument that the small pullovers aka stops lead to the supposed greater fish like wanted murderers, is a real sad case.
because if thats the only way you guys know how to catch criminals (by sheer luck) then the lpd falls very short in their qualifications in doing their job . which seems to be the case statiscally anyhow.
i guess we can figure out now why so many crimes in lakewood are still unsolved, is due to simply because the pd didnt pull them over yet in a traffic stop.
so this is what we need to raise tax dollars to pay for thanks alot.
I do agree that Lakewood needs more officers, but what seems needed to be done first is a total reform and restructuring of the LPD.
perhaps a first step would be to rid of the union which robotizes the dept to a bearaucratic system that doesnt work and is over costing the ppls taxes.
2nd a managment that would monitor the ins and outs and adjust according to the needs of both the dept and the twp its serving.
untill these 2 prerequisites are met its a waste and a failure.
To #38
Although I was already aware of what you explained, I don’t understand why you find the need to answer to silly people who just want to continue getting into accidents as a result of their habitually horrendous driving habits. Speeding,texting while driving…..are all instances of BREAKING THE LAW. Every day when I pick my daughter up from daycare, I see a person living in that development driving with a child roughly 1 1/2 years old IN HIS LEFT HAND!!! EVERY time I have pass by him in the development I see the same scene. It seems obvious that his child goes to a daycare IN the development and he feels comfortable driving around the corner like that!! What’s if Chas V’ Shalom someone comes zipping around the bend as I see daily and hits him??? This is just one example(and thank G-D I’ve never seen worse)but we all know people drive like maniacs in this town. I understand the pressure everyone is under having numerous children that need to be picked up at roughly the same time. I understand it because I deal with the exact same thing. That is not an excuse for driving the way MANY do in this town. True, an officer like Hornak should be stopped but the others should keep doing their JOB! Make this town safe in EVERY way.
Thank you for reading.
To 3# 46 Mr Conservative ,
Your comments make mores sense than most of the others that posted here, obviously there is a feeling by some that trafic safety & housing issues are to be ignored and are not that important. Lakewood is in the this turmoil due to the lack of leadership that is willing to pass some ordinances that clean up this town.
#38 You explain it all. THE LPD HAS NO STRATEGY.Its a pot luck approach to fighting crime. That is exactly how with such a small population of degenerates it was able to turn into such a high crime rate.We don’t need more cops!! We need CRIME “FIGHTING” COPS. Not a force that catches criminals by mistake!! Why were the gangs able to grow here in the first place? Ah because we didn’t have enough cops to pull them over for making a right on reds. Blame the landlords,blame U-hual and rider rent a truck. Or take responsibility for the negligence that killed one of your own fellow cops. You should have had this guy in shekels for his first murder.
To # 61.
It says ‘since that interview’, which is referring to the earlier one quoted.
That interview was posted on TLS several months ago.
Thank you.
I think you’re right 100%. The LPD wants to protect the gangs. How else can they get their brains blown out and shot and lose an eye and so on. It makes lots of sense. You must be a rocket scientist.
#60 you are a real bonehead for bringing up busing we get $700 worth of busing instead of $9000 if we went to public school if the person speaks spanish its up to $30,000 and there not legal so stop all your hateing with the busing or maybe we should go to public school and your taxes will triple
#48 we pay for the police out of our pockets by a torah party
fire bozos like officer (moderated) then we will see the police are spending there money correctly
You mean the guy sits in the car holding his kid??
just THIS week sun i saw some suspicious activity on my way home on E Kennedy Blvd aprox 2am. I recalled seeing 2 police cars idling @ the wawa, so i turned around to notify them. As i pulled up i rolled down my window and the officer ignored me. after tapping the horn he asks me what`s going on, i reported my sightings he`s like “but i didn`t hear it on the radio” i asked him if he wants me to call 911 first, he`sw like i`ll swing by soon. This is from a guy that it says Supervisor on his car!!! I called LCSW which arrived in under 2 minutes(!!!) and they looked into it. Although it turned out it was a cleaning crew i think this is a great example of the laxness of the PD.
To# 72
No, he DRIVES his car steering with one hand and holds his kid in his left hand. No, unfortunately, I am not exaggerating! I think someone like him belongs having his kids taken in by social services. Crazy thing is, I know this guy and he’s the sweetest guy and father. He simply doesn’t see the terrible danger in driving within his development holding his child! This is why officers should keep on ticketing us( yes me included if I break a law) until we will drive normally.
why doesnt any body get it get the gangs of the streets and every body will be safe with more money in the pocket to boot lock em up and blow them up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is amazing how so many people have so much to say and so many opinions about this issue and I would say none of them k.ow the first thing about crime policing or government politics. In a time when the economy is this bad maybe the people here should take it more of a welcome opportunity for them to join the police department and not only wil they have a god job with benefits it will make for a kiddush hashem and show the rest of nj that the frum care about lakewood as a town as well
Next time ask the “officer” for his name and badge number. That is totally unacceptable and MUST be reported. And I am generally VERY supportive of our PD. Attitudes like that left unchecked only get worse and greatly diminish the respect the public has for police. It is then that people get very annoyed when suddenly that same officer(or even another)is so aggresssive when it comes to issuing traffic violations. Shame!
# 70 think you are the bone head said nothing about hating , get your facts right, always looking to hate, all about you, didnt say anything wrong
The chiefs comparison to toms river etc. is completely of target simply because the increase in lakewoods population is credited to the orthodox and latino communities high reproductive rate. The average lakewood family is larger than those of neighboring townships. However the age of these families and their infant and toddlers dont demand additional forces. The chief should come forward with the amount of cops per resident 18 and older. Moreover unless new police hiring is imminent I believe that publicly stating the force can not handle the township is more a disservice to lakewoods constituents than benefit.
Agree with 67 LPD need guidance.
to poor argument: Your not to bright buddy and Your argument is a mess. Did you know the Oaklahoma City bomber was caught due to a minor motor vehicle infraction. You have no clue about police work, since you think you do how about you take the test and do the job.
Crackberry- Please don’t take this the wrong way but if you see something, you need to say something. You see this man (multiple times) putting his child’s life in danger- please report it to the police! Some might say you should approach the man and explain the danger, but I’m guessing he probably knows the child should be in a seat but ignores the law as well as the safety of the child.
Please do something.
back to #78 why did you mention busing what does that have to do the police
#17 I do know thay Brick PD put together a plan that would raise property taxes by $30.00 to $36.00 and if the vote was approved they would have been able to hire 15 more police offciers. If you were to think about that is with the population of 75,000 people so I would think it would be lower with the fact that there is 92,000 people here. So if something was passed like that in lakewood then where do i sign.
#79: your assumption that only persons over 18 need the police is ridiculous. You assumumption that only persons over the age of 18 cause crime is ridiculous. Every one in Lakewood need the police in one way or another. The chief is correct to state that Lakewood needs more cops. Its not the training or the leadership thats at fault. Its the fact that at any one time there could be as little as 7 officers patroling Lakewood past midnight and because a vast majority of the calls for service are for minor things like thefts from unlocked vehicle or mvc’s because people like rolling thru stop signs its hard for a department to be proactive. If proactive is what you want you need more cops…real cops not LCSW or SLEO 2’s……real cops. Until youve done the training and worked the street most of these opinions mean nothing.
Wow # 67 you have it all figured out , if your so smart why arn’t you the chief , you comments are an insult to the hard working men & women of the LPD . Oh and by the way I do “Blame the landlords who rent to anyone with $$$$$ in hand they are part of the problem
I see once again TLS has confused censorship and moderation . They should also look up the definition of biased. My post (#63) is about one third of the size when originally posted. I guess the truth hurts. No matter, you can cut up my posts to make it read the way you want, and continue to censor me on your site, however I’m still here, still enforcing the law, and still observing what really goes on. One other thing, there are other media outlets for my use, and you can’t censor me in public. I must say I’m rather disappointed in your attempt to silence my words. Be Well.
To # 87.
You are correct that your comment was moderated. Please understand, the site is run by Jewish Orthodox people, which means that there are certain guidlines we must conform to, hence there are certain things which may not be written in a public forum, although they may be known to some.
Please feel free to contact us via email should you have any further questions.
Thank you for understanding.
#86 I would never want a job that has life and death decisions in it. The chief needs help,not replacement. he needs talent at his side. we need to get a retired cop from a city that had gang problems such as LA,Chicago ,Bronx or newark. Let him ruffle some feathers. How about roadblocks on MLK on weekends when the weed business is in season? Light up the entrance to Woodlake on a Sunday night and ask every car for ID? Confiscate all the dogs that protect “The Stash”
Stop the blame game be a man!! Landlords are in the business to make money. Cops get paid to serve and protect,thats what makes the world go around. When cops are landlords and landlords are cops the system doesnt work.