Delayed by more than half a year, mainly by Haddonfield’s efforts to navigate the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the borough is closing in on forming a police advisory committee.
The announcement was made during the board of commissioners’ open public meeting on July 22 by Mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich, who also serves as Commissioner for Public Safety.
“I will say that we’ve had this in the works since January, if not sooner, and essentially what we wanted to do is create an advisory group of citizens because as we were mentioning before, we get a lot of feedback on social media that we’re either not aware of, or we are reacting to after the fact,” Bianco Bezich explained.
Through conversations with Police Chief Jason Cutler, the pair wanted to bring together a group of residents with diverse backgrounds and perspectives who have experience with monitoring broader public-interest issues.
Among other issues cited by Bianco Bezich at the meeting, motor vehicle safety and street layout challenges were also mentioned. Cutler, during a July 27 conversation with the Sun, added that the main complaint he receives is speeding through residential neighborhoods, followed by unleashed dogs. He noted, gratefully, that complaints about COVID masking have fallen off the radar.
“It’s just another avenue of communication,” Cutler said. “There’s a lot of Facebook posts and social media posts that we never see. And I can’t fix any issue if I’m not aware of it.”
Five days earlier, Bianco Bezich stated the committee would be an invaluable resource in keeping her informed of things that may fly under the radar “because, as a commissioner, I’m not everywhere at all times.”
Cutler stated he did not have a firm time or location for the committee to meet, but surmised contact would be on a quarterly basis and in-person meetings might be held at Borough Hall or another location in town. The chief did say, unlike the discontinued “Coffee with a Cop” series that was halted due to COVID, the advisory committee would have better staying power.
“Because we can do something like this through virtual means as well. We can have it on Zoom, do it through a conference call or in person,” he revealed. “Also, because some people may not want to come see me or us face-to-face, and they would need a liaison.”
As of the date of the meeting, six residents have stepped forward to lend their services: Wendy Coffman, Edward DiMarco, Karinne Lindner, Dennis Tully, Julie Vick and Lauren Zonies.
Both Bianco Bezich and Cutler have put out the call for more like-minded residents to join. Any member of the public who is interested in serving can do so by emailing either the Mayor (cbbezich@haddonfield-nj.gov) or Chief (jcutler@haddonfield-nj.gov) to inform them.
Cutler added there is essentially no limit to the number of folks who can work on the committee and no hard deadline to apply.
“If we can get around 10 to 15 people, that’s a good, diverse group,” he said. “(Membership) will be on an ongoing basis depending on who joins now and who may drop off due to other commitments in the future.”
