TOMS RIVER, NJ – According to Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, the “80s era” Criminal Justice Complex on Hooper Avenue, the large building with a walking bridge crossing the street, is deplorable and unfit for him and his fellow sheriff’s officers tasked with providing security for the building.
Instead, Mastronardy has asked the Ocean County Board of Commissioners to build him and his department a new 60,000 square foot Sheriff’s Department headquarters blocks away from the justice complex on Mott Place.
In addition to the new office, Mastronardy wants a new firing range for his officers, just months after the Toms River Township Council approved a project to build officers at his old unit a new range.
Last week, the Ocean County Board of Commissioners had publicly declared the Ocean County Justice Complex, Ocean County Clerk’s office, and Ocean County Election Board offices as unhealthy and unsafe environments for workers as a justification to move forward on a huge capital construction and expansion project.
The board did not say what would become of the unhealthy and unsanitary offices currently maintained by those agencies once their new facilities are constructed.
While many cities and counties across America operate their services out of buildings as old as hundreds of years, the 1980s modern construction doesn’t cut it for the sheriff’s office.
The move could be the first step in Mastronardy’s long-term goal to create a countywide Sheriff’s office to patrol Ocean County roads, a move few municipal police departments are asking for. Mastronardy also wants to consolidate power and create a county-wide EMS department to supersede the dozens of local volunteer departments.
In New Jersey, unlike many states, the Sheriff’s department’s role is to guard the county buildings, court facilities, and the Ocean County Jail. In other states, Sheriff’s officers also work as regular police officers.
Sheriff’s departments in New Jersey also assist local police departments when requested with high-tech criminal investigations, additional events, or emergency security, and to lean on more advanced county criminal investigation resources when needed. The county maintains high-tech crime labs, a full k-9 unit and other technologies not available at the local level.
Mastronardy wants to take that one step further, and he wants his officers to start patrolling the streets, issuing tickets, making arrests, and performing duties more commonly associated with municipal police departments.
No police chiefs in Ocean County wanted to go on record about Mastronardy’s plan to work above them for fear of political repercussions, but all agreed a county-wide police force is not necessary and would be a duplication of costs and services to their community.
Freeholder Joe Vicari was the lone dissenter of the plan approved by Mastonardy’s allies on the board of commissioners. Vicari asked for the measure to be handed to the voters of Ocean County in a referendum, but the board denied that motion.
The Ocean County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a feasibility study to move forward on the massive long-term construction project.
While most sheriff’s offices in New Jersey describe their primary duties as securing the county courthouses and protecting all personnel assigned to these facilities, Ocean County’s mission statement is different. Sheriff’s departments under New Jersey’s constitution are also responsible for transferring inmates from correctional facilities to the courthouse.
Mastronardy changed the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department’s role to be more police centric after he took office in his grand vision to once again become chief of an actual law enforcement agency with officers patrolling the streets, making arrests, and issuing tickets.
“The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office is committed to protecting life and property. We are dedicated to affording all citizens with law enforcement excellence and shall perform our duties proficiently and effectivelyz. While performing the customary services of the Sheriff, we remain ready to strengthen and enhance all other law enforcement organizations,’ the Agencies mission statement now says.
The Sheriff’s Office in Ocean County has largely become a political entity since Mastronardy took office. He is now running to become the Chairman of the Ocean County GOP, which could make his new countywide police department nothing more than a law enforcement arm of the Republican party.
With jails being emptied by liberal prosecutors appointed by Governor Phil Murphy and by the governor’s orders directly, the population level at the Ocean County Jail is at record lows. Still, there has not been any staffing downsizing at the facility.
The crime rate of Ocean County is among the lowest crime rates in New Jersey, another reason the county doesn’t need a third layer of community policing. For now, the Sheriff’s Office remains on-call to assist local agencies when called upon, but if Mastronardy has his way with his Republican underlings on the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, you can soon see the third layer of government police enforcement ticketing residents and patrolling the roads of a relatively crime-free Ocean County.