Brick Township Dons Blue To Show Support For Its Police

(The Brick Township Municipal Building is bathed in blue light Tuesday night, part of the town’s celebration of Brick Township Police Appreciation Week. Credit: Karen Wall)

Brick Township officials expressed their gratitude for the work of the township’s police force on Tuesday night, officially designating this week as “Brick Township Police Appreciation Week” in a ceremony at the Township Council meeting.

Brick Township Police Chief Nils R. “Rick” Bergquist accepted proclamations from Mayor John G. Ducey and Council President Paul Mummolo, who thanked the chief and the officers who stood lined up along the back and side walls of the room, representing the force’s 129 members, for their work on behalf of the residents of Brick.

Ducey said he wanted to take time out to thank the chief and the department because he was dismayed by the negative attention police officers had been receiving in recent months. He specifically chose a week that was separate from other police recognition weeks, he said, “because you ladies and gentlement of our police force deserve your own time to be recognized.”

“You do so much for our town, and it’s so much better because of you,” Ducey said, and listed off a number of positive actions township police officers had taken for the town, from the recent rescue of a woman who waded into the Metedeconk River to kill herself, to a massive drug bust that took 2 kilograms of cocaine and 1 kilogram of heroin off the streets.

“They keep us safe. They keep drugs off the streets. They keep guns off the streets,” Ducey said. “We can’t thank you enough.”

Mummolo noted the township’s capital budget includes money for signficant renovations of the police department, to bring it “up to the standards you deserve,” he said.

“Since I started here 34 years ago, I have always known how fortunate I am to work in a town as supportive of its police as Brick is,” Bergquist said.

Residents were urged to display blue lights and blue ribbons at their homes as a show of support for the police force.