“I am the retired police chief of Pt. Pleasant Beach. I worked in the police department for 32 years. This is such a nice community. I was born here in Pt Pleasant and grew up here. My family goes all the way back to the 1800’s living in Pt. Pleasant.
“The hardest for me being a police officer after having grown up in this town, is that I know everyone, so it is frustrating when the people I know become victims of criminal acts like burglary. One of the toughest moments for me was a woman I knew since I was born was assaulted and robbed, and she was in her 80’s at the time. But we were able to identify the perpetrator.
“Perhaps one of my proudest moments as police chief was being responsible for hiring the very first woman police officer in our town. We actually hired three women. They were really good at their jobs and I am so happy we hired them.
“Growing up my family was in the soft drink business here, manufacturing soda and different flavors of soda, from 1898 all the way until 1966, when I joined the police department. My grandfather, my father and I were all in the business. We would deliver the soda ourselves to places like Jenkinsons. But those types of soda are pretty much gone. All of the soda is on tap now. When I was younger, when Mr. Jenkinson owned the boardwalk, there used to be a big saltwater pool here. Those were the days you could ride your bike down to the pool and go swimming before you went home. But it got replaced with the arcades and the casino atmosphere.
“Pt Pleasant Beach is 1.5 square miles, and we have 6,000 full-time residents, but in the summertime it goes up to 40 or 50,000 people. I am very proud of this town. We have always kept it family-friendly. People would always say, ‘Don’t let it get like Seaside Heights.’ Of course Seaside Heights doesn’t appreciate that. The key for us as the police department is enforcement. The biggest problem we face in the summer is partying and noise. The people who live here year-round, even though they know they live in a resort community, don’t want the partying late at night. I understand it. And we make sure to enforce the law when it gets too loud. The whole town is behind the philosophy of keeping it family-friendly, and that’s what makes this town so special. It’s the entire community all wanting the same thing.”
~ Point Pleasant Beach
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