TOMS RIVER, NJ – A protest held in Downtown Toms River has been hijacked by political protesters and even a career criminal. What was billed as a rally to support the Toms River Police Department amid a call by Mayor Dan Rodrick to expand the police department CSO (EMT) units, turned into a political assault against several township workers.
Political activists Dana Tormollian, a staunch supporter of former Mayor Maurice Hill, and Paul Williams, an admitted career convict, carried protest signs that went beyond “Support the Toms River Police Department”.
Williams, who was cheered on by the police department at a town meeting last month has hijacked the pro-police rally with ugly undertones that targeted township workers, doxxed other workers, and encouraged protesters online and in person to harass and criticize town workers hired by the new mayor to replace those who worked for former Mayor Maurice Hill.
Signs at the rally read “Support the TRPD”, but others carried homemade signs that targeted other township workers, turning what was a pro-police rally into a political rally with signs exposing some town hall workers’ political affiliations in an attempt to harass and intimidate them.
Mayor Rodrick contends his goal is to put more life-saving workers on the street and to cut top-level management positions that cost the township as much as $400,000 annually per worker. Rodrick pointed to a fleet of ambulances that sat idle behind the Toms River Police Department Headquarters and hired 8 emergency service workers to replace two retiring police captains.
Rodrick today said efforts to brand the re-organization as ‘defunding’ the police are outright lies. Rodrick said the department’s budget is increasing this year, police officers just received a raise and will receive another this year and no police officers on patrol are being cut. Rodrick said “No police officers are losing their jobs” adding that the positions being reallocated are only being done after two high-profile retirements in the coming months.
Rodrick blames Hill for leaving the township in a $3.5 million deficit heading into 2024.
“He had four years to fix this problem, he didn’t,” Rodrick said.
PBA and FOP spokespeople say Rodrick’s re-allocation will put officers and the public in immediate harm, a claim that has not been clearly explained to date.
Rodrick said the unions are just worried about money that would have gone toward police promotions in 2024.
Those affiliated with the protest admitted in private that they are working with former allies of the former mayor who lost to Rodrick in last June’s primary simply to embarrass the new mayor and to create public dissent.
