Barnegat Township Police Department

About the Barnegat Township Police Department

Our Team:

The strength of any organization lies in the talent, skills, and commitment of its employees. Barnegat officers begin their journey with a rigorous and incredibly competitive selection process. The typical Barnegat officer needs to finish in the top 2% of applicants in order to be selected– a rate among the most competitive in any profession. Each officer receives at least 120 hours of mandatory training a year.

Beyond possessing the knowledge of thousands of laws, regulations, and judicial cases, our officers are outstanding problem-solvers– placing a priority on conflict resolution and de-escalation long before they were trending buzzwords in the profession. In fact, despite handling nearly 20,000 calls for service and 600 arrests a year, Barnegat officers historically use force in well under 1% of all calls for service.

Our Mission:

The mission of the Barnegat Township Police Department is to provide for the well-being of the community through effective police provision of order maintenance, law enforcement, emergency services, and crime prevention; to guarantee the constitutional rights of all people, to provide rapid response to those in danger or otherwise in need of aid, and to maintain an open dialogue with citizens in order to identify problems within Barnegat Township and resolve those problems through an interactive partnership with the community we serve.

Values:

Integrity- Integrity is a core agency value and is demanded of every member, at all times. We recognize that integrity is the foundation of community trust.
Empathy—Empathy is among the most fundamental values that we embrace. Empathy promotes cooperation and understanding. The ability to see a situation from another’s perspective is critical to conflict resolution, de-escalation, and collaborative solutions.
Accountability- We are accountable to each other, and to the people we serve.
Fairness- Treating all people with fairness is basic to human dignity.
Respect- Respect for the community is essential for establishing and maintaining the spirit of cooperation needed to be an outstanding police department

 

Vision:

Our vision is to create the environment where residents are free to live their lives safe from fear of crime, and confident in the fact that we will be there to help them solve their problem when they need us.

Accreditation

CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation is a status of achievement awarded to a police agency which is able to prove that it complies in both policy and practice with nearly 200 different professional standards.

The Barnegat Police Department became the first agency in the history of Ocean County to be awarded CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation when it was found to be in full compliance with the standards in November of 2011. Our agency was awarded its second re-accreditation in 2014, its third re-accreditation in 2017, and its fourth re-accreditation in 2021.

The difficulty in achieving CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation is evidenced by some simple statistics. Of the nearly five-hundred police departments in the state, only eight have received Law Enforcement Accreditation. Additionally, there are no other CALEA Law Enforcement accredited agencies in either Ocean or Atlantic counties.

What are the Benefits of Accreditation?

Accountability: CALEA standards give the Chief of Police a proven management system of written directives, sound training, clearly defined lines of authority, and routine reports that support decision-making and resource allocation.

Reduced Risk and Liability Exposure: Barnegat Township receives a reduction in liability insurance fees and deductibles because of the department’s accredited status.

Stronger Defense Against Civil Lawsuits: Accredited agencies are better able to defend themselves against civil lawsuits. Also, many agencies report a decline in legal actions against them once they become accredited.

Increased Community Support: Accreditation embodies the precepts of Community Oriented Policing. It creates a forum in which law enforcement agencies and citizens work together to prevent and control challenges confronting law enforcement and provides clear direction about community expectations.

DIVISIONS

Office of the Chief
The Chief of Police oversees the department and is responsible for all aspects of the day to day operations. His command staff is comprised of a captain and the lieutenants who command each of the agency’s two divisions.

Operations Division
The Operations  Division is made up of uniformed officers and the Crime Reduction Unit.  The six squads of uniformed officers have the primary responsibility of  providing for the protection of life and property within Barnegat Township.

The uniformed patrol officers are the backbone of the agency. All officers start their careers as uniformed patrol officers and must spend at least three years in that capacity before being eligible for any other assignments.

The Crime Reduction Unit is the evolution of the former Barnegat Police Narcotics Unit. It is as an elite team of highly-skilled police officers with a history of exceptional performance. The unit is responsible for high-value investigations involving gangs, drugs, and weapons. The unit can also be directed at crime outbreaks in specific areas or involving certain modus operandi. The Crime Reduction Unit is the most important part of the agency’s new Crime Reduction Initiative.

Support Services Division

The Support Services Division contains the many components that supplement and support the agency’s mission. These components include the Detective Bureau, Evidence Function, Juvenile Function, Community Policing Unit, School Resource Officers, Records, Accreditation Unit, Fleet Management, and Information Technology.

The Detective Bureau’s primary responsibility is to conduct investigations of crimes and offenses and prepare criminal cases for prosecution. This is accomplished through various methods including interview and interrogation as well as  processing crime scenes.

Barnegat’s juvenile crime program mandated by the Attorney General’s Office is responsible for the prevention and control of juvenile delinquency problems as well as the investigation of juvenile cases, crisis counseling, and liaison with the juvenile courts. Our juvenile program has received a great deal of praise and has been a model for other Ocean County departments.