Brick Township Police Department - FIle Photo

BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ – In light of several incidents in Brick in recent months, mayoral candidate John Catalano says the Brick Township Police Department alone cannot police one of America’s safest communities.

Today, Catalano called for Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy’s agency to get more involved and to set up a crime prevention task force that includes the Brick Police Department, Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The two county agencies routinely assist in Brick Township, but Catalano wants to create a formal task force.

Current Mayor Lisa Crate said the police department is doing a great job and the existing partnerships with the county agencies are working.

Of the crimes mentioned by Catalano, one was a distraught husband robbing his ex-wife’s home. He shot at police before shooting himself. Another was a Newark-based gang targeting homes and vehicles in Brick Township. Police have since arrested one Newark man and multiple agencies in Ocean County and Essex County continue dismantling the Newark-based operations plaguing the entire state.

“We’ve worked with the chief to make sure that they have all of the tools that they need to fight any type of crime that comes into Brick Township,” Crate says in Today’s Asbury Park Press. “Not only are they fully funded, but they are fully staffed. And requests that they make, we work with them to get what they need, so that they can keep our community safe.”

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Catalano reiterated that the police department needs more help as crime is becoming a quality-of-life issue for the community.

Democrats have railed Catalano on his past. They have been advertising a drunk driving arrest in Toms River when he was 47 and his bust by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in a stolen jewelry operation.

In 2016, Catalano, who owns a jewelry store was fined $600 after buying jewelry from an undercover detective without documenting the purchase, in violation of the law which helps law enforcement track stolen jewelry.

Catalano seeks to get back into local government after serving as a New Jersey Assemblyman. He lost his last bid for re-election after a 24% tax increase while he was a sitting board member of the municipal council.

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