Tinton Falls restores police chief position

Tinton Falls restores police chief position
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

TINTON FALLS — After a three-month hiatus, the Borough Council has voted to reestablish the position of police chief.

Since the April 1 retirement of former chief Gerald Turning, the Tinton Falls Police Department has been without a police chief,

The council voted 5-0 at the July 7 meeting to adopt an ordinance that re-establishes the position of police chief, a position that was eliminated when Turning retired.

Turning’s retirement lasted only a month before he was appointed in May to take over as Borough Administrator.

In an interview this week, Turning explained that an ordinance approved in 2004 provided that the chief’s position would be eliminated when he left.

“The ordinance was written that it would expire upon my retirement, and what they planned on doing was revisiting it after I had left,” Turning said.

The ordinance approved July 7 also establishes a cap on the number of officers who can hold certain positions in the police force.

According to the ordinance, there will be one chief, two captains, five lieutenants, seven sergeants and 26 patrol officers.

Turning said that the borough has had to update this ordinance to include a cap on those positions since the previous ordinance was written six years ago.

“There were no limitations on the number of people we could have in each position, and there is case law since that was originally written,” he said. “By putting a number on there, it tells the council exactly how much they need to budget for.”

Turning said the police chief position will remain vacant until Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera appoints someone.

“Under our ordinance, the police chief is appointed by the mayor,” he said. “That is statute all over the state of New Jersey.

“He can’t hire someone from the outside as police chief, because it is a violation of the ordinance,” he added. “[The chief] has to be promoted from within.”

Turning explained that the position under chief is captain, and Capt. David Trevena is currently the only captain serving on the police force.

Turning said Trevena is being considered for the chief’s job.

“We only have one [captain] because one just retired,” he said. “He’s [Trevena] being considered, but the mayor could appoint whomever he wishes.

“It’s not necessarily the next person in line. Whatever action he decides to take is totally up to him.”

Turning said that there is also a public safety director who is a civilian in charge of the police department.

At the June 1 council meeting, Doug Gotfredsen was sworn in as director of public safety, a position that was vacated after former Public Safety Director and Administrator Bryan Dempsey accepted a position in Spring Lake in January.

Turning said that he is pleased the council adopted the ordinance to re-establish the position.

“We have a public safety director, so there is someone running the police department of civilian authority,” he said. “I was in favor of it because I had served in the role of commanding officer prior to 2004, but being chief of police is a totally different animal.”

At the July 7 meeting, Councilman Scott Larkin praised fellow Councilman Duane Morrill for pushing the ordinance forward.

“I want to commend Mr. Morrill,” Larkin said. “He really pushed this, and sometimes it seems like it’s hard to accomplish things, but you helped us create something that is tangible.”

Also at the July 7 meeting, the council reorganized, with Councilman Gary Baldwin becoming the new council president.

Baldwin was elected with a 3-2 vote, with Morrill and Councilman Andrew Mayer voting against Baldwin in favor of Mayer.

Baldwin officially took over for Morrill as council president, and Mayer will replace Baldwin as deputy council president.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.





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