WELCOME TO THE DEPTFORD TOWNSHIP POLICE DEPARTMENT
L-R Captain John Weatherby, Deputy Chief Richard Harbison, Chief Daniel Murphy
Daniel Murphy, Chief of Police
Phone:(856) 845-6440
Fax: (856)845-4147
Richard Harbison, Deputy Chief of Police
Phone:(856)845-6440
Fax:(856) 845-4147
Captain John Weatherby, Operations Officer
Phone:(856)845-6440
Fax:(856) 845-4147
Chief’s Message
As the holidays come to a close and we begin a new year, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and bring you up to date on what the Police Department is doing to keep the community safe.
January is typically a fairly busy month in terms of calls for service and administrative activities. The weather plays a big part in the increase for call for services. The increases typically include traffic crashes and traffic related services. Assist motorist calls also increase slightly due to the weather during this time of year. Our officers work very hard in difficult conditions, and I am very proud of the service they provide the community.
January is also the time of year when the Police Administration or “Office of the Chief of Police” conducts an annual review of policies, procedures, rules and regulations,
and operational issues of concerns. We also produce our annual training calendar and a number of annual reports mandated by the Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General.
I am proud to announce that our annual Internal Affair’s Report indicates that we had less internal affairs complaints in 2009 in comparison to 2008, and we believe this is significant for a number of reasons. Specifically, we saw a decrease in the overall number of complaints even thought we handled more calls for service and made more arrests than in 2008. At the same time, we managed to handle this workload with less overall personnel.
You should know that we are working very hard on an administrative level to emphasize the importance of supervision and acceptable behavior and conduct for our police officers. We believe that what we are doing is working; as illustrated by the reduction in complaints about police service(s). However, we realize the need to do more and will continually work towards leading and supervising our police officers in the most professional manner possible.
I am also proud to announce that I initiated an “Employee Participation Group” last year. Recently, I attended one of their meetings and I was very impressed with the level of dedication our police officers have to our community and department. They are working on a number of different initiatives that will make our department a better place to work and our community safer. One of the community oriented initiatives put forward by Police Officer Robert Jones was the concept of a “Citizens Police Academy”. It is designed to educate the community on the police department and provide enhanced access to what we do. I look forward to working with EPG, Township Manager’s Office, and Mayor and Council to make it a reality this year, and every year during my tenure as Chief.
Lieutenant Hanstein is working on an initiative to offer assistance to our senior residents and families caring for senior citizens. We are looking to develop a policy that identifies senior citizens and others in need, who are experiencing issues associated with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or any mental health issue associated with confusion or loss of memory. The idea is to develop an electronic picture and personal identification information file of any seniors in need that would assist the police in locating individuals who are reported missing, who may not be able to identify or assist themselves. Another goal is to assist families, where appropriate, in checking in on senior citizens who live alone. We feel that this is the least we can do for our senior citizens and hope these efforts can make their lives and their family member’s lives a little easier during their time of need while providing them some piece of mind. I look forward to working with the senior community in the development of this policy and hope to have it completed by mid-year.
These are only a few things we are doing to make Deptford a safe and great community. The Administrative Office of the Chief of Police strongly believes in participatory management and government; and encouraging everyone to stay involved in issues of public safety. A safe community is a direct result of active participation of its citizens. Hope to see you at an upcoming “Anti-Crime Partnership” meeting.
Our Mission Statement
Police Headquartersare located at:
1011 Cooper Street
Deptford, New Jersey 08096
856-845-2220
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