Township Adds Three New Officers to Police Department Roster

Township officials are slowly increasing the number of police officers, despite declining state aid and the sour economy.

"Once the budget was adopted, we wanted to move quickly to get the into the Ocean County Police Academy," Mayor Jason J. Varano said.

Three officers were recently hired off the Civil Service list. All are veterans, and one is currently serving in Afghanistan, Mayor Jason J. Varano said.

The new officers include:

Robert Ashton, 37, a Marine who served in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002. Ashton joined the Army National Guard in 2006 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2008 to 2009. He served his third tour in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009, where he was in charge of protecting high-ranking officials, according to his biography. His latest employment was as an armed security officer at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station.

Michael Tier, 26, a lifelong township resident. Tier holds a bachelor's degree in history from Moravian College. He is currently commissioned as a First Lieutenant with the U.S. Army Reserves and was deployed to support Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2009. He graduated from the Ocean County Police Academy in 2007 and worked for the Lavallette Police Department as a Class 2 special police officer. Tier graduated from the New Jersey Department of Corrections Training Academy in February. His last employment was as a corrections officer at the New Jersey State Prison.

Michael Tanis, 32, a lifelong Berkeley Township resident. Tanis is currently serving in Afghanistan, where he runs the U.S. Army's Salerno Base military police department. Prior to that he served in Iraq in Operation Enduring Freedom from 2004 to 2005. He is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve. His last employment was as a police officer in the Department of the Army had Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York. His reserve tour of duty will end in mid-2012, Varano said.

"What's special is Michael Tier and Michael Tanis are both life long residents of Berkeley Township, graduating in 2003 and 1998 respectfully from Central Regional," Township Council Vice-President Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. "Mr. Tier and Mr. Tanis are coming back home to serve as police officers in the town they grew up in and now chose to live and raise their families in. They have a vested interest in our community and that's what it's all about."

Ashton and Tier were sworn in at a Sept. 7 ceremony at Town Hall. Tanis' wife Janine stood in for him.

They were slated to begin classes at the Ocean County Police Academy today, Varano said.

Space is hard to come by at the police academy. Fewer classes are being held because many police departments are not hiring or have laid officers off, the mayor said.

The number of officers in the department currently stands at 66, below the 74 officers the department had several years ago, Varano said.

"My goal is to get them back to that level," he said. "Do I think we can survive with 66 officers? Yes. But I think we need additional officers. I would have liked to get four officers in the academy this week."