TOMS RIVER, NJ – The Toms River Township Council has introduced an ordinance that would create eight new jobs within the Toms River Police Department in the form of emergency service operators to operate Police EMS ambulances. That decision came after years of inaction by the former administration under Mayor Maurice Hill said Mayor Dan Rodrick.
“We are adding eight emergency service operators within the Toms River Police Department,” Rodrick said.
Rodrick said the topic was a constant concern at township council meetings for years as residents lodged complaints about longer than average wait times for life-saving ambulance services. Residents have repeatedly come to town hall to complain about the town’s lack of coverage on the barrier island where patients in need of critical medical care have had to wait as much as thirty minutes or more for service.
“It’s unacceptable!” Rodrick said. “A rapid response is the difference between life and death. My administration has taken immediate action. We will be hiring eight new emergency medical officers to man our police ambulances. This will put another ambulance on the road around the clock – 24 hours a day – 7 days a week – 365 days a year.”
Rodrick had support from five of the seven township council members during the first reading of the ordinance, including Toms River Councilman Justin Lamb, who also works as a police sergeant for the Lavallette Police Department. Lamb said the Toms River Police Department EMTs are the unsung heroes of the township.
“Arguably the CSO’s, beyond just patrol officers are the unsung heroes out there as well and I don’t think they get enough credit,” Lamb said.
Lamb said the decision to not replace a retiring police captain’s position at this time is hard to hear, but residents have been coming to every meeting complaining about the wait times in service.
“The last administration said ‘too bad’,” Lamb said. “This council feels we don’t have enough ambulances on the road.”
“Due to the fiscal mismanagement of my predecessor, the township is facing a 3.5 Million dollar shortfall,” Mayor Rodrick said. “Still, we need more emergency medical responders. It’s a matter of life and death. The prior mayor and chief
of police had 4 years to fix this crisis, but they did not.”
In addition to the eight officers, which Rodrick said are vital to emergency services, he approved the department’s request to hire seven new police officers.
Rodrick said upon taking office the department approached him to sign off on an order that would allow those eight officers to start the police academy in time to begin working this summer.
“They asked for seven officers,” Rodrick said. “I approved their request.”
Rodrick said he decision is justified and said the town needs more boots on the ground, not high-paid officers sitting at desks.
“Currently there are 31 people in management positions at the department overseeing 112 police officers. That’s one supervisor for every three cops. These 31 members of the department’s top brass are costing the township over $9 Million a year. That’s an average of $300,000 dollars a year – per person,” the mayor said. “We need more boots on the ground, not two more $350,000 a year management positions. The number of patrol officers is not decreasing. It’s increasing. Again, we’re adding 8 emergency medical response officers and I just signed off on 7 new patrolmen. We are paying for all of this by not backfilling just 2 retirements.”