Officials Say Class 1 Officers Will Benefit Stafford Parks

STAFFORD, NJ — The introduction of a park ranger-like system into Stafford parks will benefit the township in several ways, officials said.

Stafford officials held a workshop on June 30 to introduce the addition of class one officers to patrol Stafford parks and explain how it works. The addition follows repeated graffiti and vandalism in the parks, as well as a few safety issues.

The program is expected to begin some time this year, Township Administration Matthew von der Hayden said.

Stafford Mayor Greg Myhre said that he believes this will serve to make the community stronger.

Class one officers are a special type of officer that do not carry guns. They work as crowd control, traffic enforcement and serve as a presence, Police Chief Thomas Dellane said.

Dellane, who has worked for the Stafford Police Department for more than 35 years, said that officers are needed to patrol the parks rather than cameras, as cameras are "more of a reactive tool for law enforcement." He shared a story of cameras installed at a local park that only lasted a few weeks before someone stole the system. Cameras also do not work because they are often vandalized, von der Hayden said.

These officers will serve as another set of eyes and ears for the police, Dellane said. He said his goal is "omnipresence" - trying to create a belief in people that police are always present to make them think twice before taking destructive action.

Dellane shared the broken windows theory. This law enforcement theory says that if you do not address "little things" like graffiti and vandalism, they will grow into larger incidents, Dellane explained.

These acts of vandalism not only damage the parks and cost money to fix, they can also serve as a threat to people using the parks, von der Hayden said.

He shared multiple examples of vandalism in the parks. In one case, some drove out on fields and ruined them, meaning they have to be rescheduled for children playing sports, rehabbed by public works and the township has to consider money to add to the budget to replace the fields. "All of those things get affected," von der Hayden said.

Photos of graffiti were also shared. He added that some graffiti has vulgar images or language that children could see. "That's not something we want to project into our community," von der Hayden said.

Bathrooms are frequently vandalized at the parks. Photos showed a sink completely destroyed, a partition knocked over and a diaper changing station torn off the wall. "These are things we see on a regular basis," von der Hayden said. Incidents like these, plus an example of glass shattered at a little library in town causes the potential for unknowing residents to be hurt, he said.

Also shown was a concession stand at Doc Cramer Sports Complex that was burnt by an illegal firework thrown into a trash can. It took two months to get the stand back up and had a $100,000 claim, von der Hayden said.

Recreation Director Jason Hazelton added that it affects the recreation program. "The police officers would be a wonderful addition," he said, referring to children that attend summer camps at the township's parks and families that simply come to the parks to have fun.

Hazelton said that with the township's many town-wide festivals, such as Founders Day and the Fall Harvest, having this police presence would be beneficial, as more than 5,000 people attend these.

Dellane also emphasized the mental health aspect of it, saying that there has been an "explosion" in children having mental health crises following the pandemic. Stafford's ON P.O.I.N.T. program works to bring social workers in to the police department and has "shown some amazing successes," Dellane said.

"Developing a relationship with some of these at-risk kids can really go a long way towards making a better community," Myhre said.

You can watch the workshop online here.