Traffic Safety Officers Do the Best With What They Have

We're not Pine Beach.

The Police Department's traffic safety unit has three traffic safety officers on each shift spread out over the township's more than 40 square miles of land to deal with speeders and traffic accidents, said Sgt. Anthony Chiorazzi, who heads the unit.

"We are doing what we can with the enforcement end of it," he said. "Just because they don't see us, it doesn't mean we aren't there. We do sit there. As far as speeding goes, we do the best we can with what we have."

Some residents and Township Councilwoman Judy Noonan have complained recently that more needs to be done about speeders in both Bayville and the senior villages in the western section of the township.

Township Council President Karen Davis said at the June 14 council meeting that drivers know better than to speed through neighboring Pine Beach. Davis also called for the police department to step up enforcement and issue more tickets.

"We need to really step up on enforcement," Davis said at the meeting . "Unmarked cars don't work. Speed bumps don't work. What works is to hit them in the wallet."

Woodland Road resident Scott Rosen went to the microphone during the public portion of the June 14 caucus meeting to ask if something can be done about speeding motorists on the residential street.

Berkeley Township is 55.8 square miles, which includes 12.9 miles of water. Pine Beach is 0.6 miles, according to the latest U.S. Census.

"We are a big township," Chiorazzi said. "I wish I had enough guys to deal with it. Then we would be more like Pine Beach. Everyone wants us to do more with less. We are doing the best we can."

The traffic safety unit has nine officers certified in several levels of crash training by the Ocean County Police Academy. The unit has three officers to man each of the three patrol shifts.

But the traffic safety officers are also part of the police department's regular patrol roster, he said.

"Unfortunately, the traffic safety unit is part of the regular patrol," Chiorazzi said. " They have to respond to calls. They are not here solely for traffic safety. They do two jobs."

The traffic safety unit uses unmarked cars, radar and several electronic speed signs to target speeders, he said.

The unit is well aware of speeding problems in certain sections of the township,  and often has unmarked cars stationed in those areas, Chiorazzi said.

Chiorazzi urged residents to get the license plate numbers of speeding cars and call the traffic safety bureau at 732-341-1132, or e-mail him at chiorazzi@btpdnj.org.