Borough police to lose two officers

With the December resignation of Officer William Perez, the indictment of Officer Kenneth Riley and the pending resignation of Officer Kevin Creegan, the Borough has been authorized to hire one new officer, Martindell said.

In January 2008, Riley allegedly accessed recordings made by a Mobile Vision Recorder and shared the recording with Perez and Creegan without appropriate authorization.

This staffing loss will leave the department with about 28 officers, Martindell said.

In previous Borough Council meetings, councilmen have discussed the possibility of combining police dispatches from the Township and the Borough, but Martindell said there were no definite plans to pursue this course of action. The initiative might be addressed in the “indeterminate future,” he said.

According to a presentation by Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi, the police department will take up $110,000 of the annual budget, most of which will be spent on accessories associated with patrol vehicles.

Councilman Andrew Koontz said in January that the department’s loss of the officers would help the Borough manage its budget deficit. Bruschi noted in the same month that additional Borough workers would be laid off in 2009.

Martindell said his “understanding is that some [layoff] notices may have been prepared” already this year, but he was unable to provide specifics on who was being let go.