[Music] welcome to council Corner this program was created with the residents in mind each episode will explore various aspects of Oldbridge Township the goal is to make you aware of all that's available to you and your family we hope you will enjoy watching get a lot of good information and increase your enjoyment of this great town today we have someone very special with us our new chief of police Tom Montagna welcome Tom thank you pleas happy to have you here thank you for having yes very much so this was quite a process and we are so excited to have you as our new Chief as the mayor has spoken about it several times yes one of my campaign promises that I was going to make a permanent Chief we had an acting chief for I think about a year and a half so we had a very rigorous process there were 11 eligible candidates six decided to move forward and we it was very extensive we had uh several interviews of written questionnaires and at the end I decided to pick Chief montagen I think I made the right choice I think the whole town thinks you made thank you very much I really appreciate it and it's been a whirlwind um A lot's going on Anita said it's only been two months but it's felt like it's been a lot longer um but the main thing is you know when you saw when I got sworn in all the officers that showed up uh and that's just how you treat people and you treat people with respect and you'll have a lot of support so it's it's been it's been a really fun time for me and I appreciate it thank you we're both new to the role and we're brand new right everybody's getting we have a lot of conversations and I think we're doing a pretty good job here yes we're going to meet once a week to St connected and make sure things are going well and we're hope to have more police officers on the show yeah it's important to have a lot of Outreach to the community absolutely and a great relationship with government and and the police department being a team is what I strive to be uh and it's a good thing yeah yeah for the amount of accolades that have been paid to you by your police officers really tells the tale yeah how much you know they are happy with it shot through the roof which is a good thing and it was a while before we had a permanent Chief and I understand the process um but it's now moving forward and doing good things yeah there's stability there and that's a that's a big plus it really really is yeah that makes all the difference and I think the exposure that you have through the meetings that you two um communicate well with each other it's really in the best interest of the town and you move things forward that way and you identify problems and you identify Solutions also so I think that works out good but it is true when we do see people they're very happy you know that you're the chief not only the police department you know policemen um people in the community have told me actually before you became Chief I would always hear from parents and from the school and it's the parents that they came to me and said what a great relationship you had with the students there and how you treated them and the communication I think that speaks volumes and I appreciate that yeah uh well I have I think 33 years on a job you know and uh I can't believe how fast they went I remember when my first interview down in Seaside Park as a class one officer when I was young and now here I am and it's just it was a a blur uh but throughout my career um it was always important and I always said to myself to treat people the right way and getting out in the community talking to people just communication and and that's so important and and I've you know Patrol uh and being a criminal detective and narcotic detective and I was in charge of the school security program all that experience is where brought me here today yeah so now how long are you on the the force here in Oldbridge 25 years yeah I started here in 1999 mayor Canon hired me and uh I started uh like I said in Patrol and it was important uh to be aggressive I was a very aggressive officer I made a lot of arrest and I went from Patrol to the criminal detective Bureau and being a criminal detective um that was a great uh experience it was a great job I know years ago we used to uh talk uh it's important and when you have cases and and you have victims and you're and they're looking for closure if you don't make that arrest but at least they have someone to talk to that was important um so it was a really positive experience you know being a criminal defective well you got to know Oldbridge inside and out literally you know so now in your position you've lived what these other officers are doing now so you can understand you know the good and the what's difficult and you know be able to help Mentor them along as well having you know stepped in those shoes I've touched every part of law enforcement right I've been there I've worked in Nar like I said narcotics I worked undercover uh you know playing clothes surveillance and that's what I like to do with these younger guys and teach them and it's important and we're lucky here in Oldbridge we have a great uh group of men and women here do and uh resident Oldbridge uh you know our first priority for that and which is it's important for our Administration our number one priority is Public Safety we want to keep uh Oldbridge one of the safest uh towns in America and I believe we're still there I know we were in I think we're in the top 10 in the country and uh and and I think we're we're right there oh I think the way you react to things you know right away if something is going on that you you know comes around you're there right away to start the process to make this work to not have a problem so that's what you need well also what I found was very important when we had homeowners association meetings you and your team came there and explained to the homeowners what are important things to keep them safe what they can do on their side also which I think is very important it's extremely important and Oldbridge is a big town it's 42 square miles we have 70,000 residents and it's hard to touch all those residents but when you and that's something I want to do here with our community policing is get out into the community just like the HOA meetings and talk to different neighborhoods on a smaller level when I went to the HOA meetings uh just handing out my business card I've been corresponding with so many people and you don't realize what goes on in different neighborhoods and streets and a lot of times residents don't know who to talk to um and just having someone on the other side of the police department it's a good thing and that's really important to me that we have a very strong relationship with the community um and we're going to do that we're going to expand our community policing Department um the youth Police Academy we saw that that's important um that's going to be a really good thing and we haven't done that in a long time I'm excited uh to get that going and we're also going to do a senior Police Academy which is good thing to teach our seniors um you know because they become victims of different scams and different type of things and we want to teach them you know about all those things so that's that's a good thing yeah I've had so many residents tell me how happy they were to see you at the HOA meetings and sharing with you and now when we announced deie announced about you becoming the chief they're just they're over the moon about it they really are cuz I've been they know you you know I've been corresponding with them and it's the smallest little things to the things and I've been getting a lot of positive feedback just having a presence I think is so important and people don't understand everything that the police department does and so having that communication I really opens up everyone's eyes to what's going on yeah the HOA connection is such a wonderful thing because it gets uh maybe 30 people in a room but they bring that back information to hundreds of the residents so it's a really great thing and you've been coming for a while now and I think it's it's good for us as a new mayor and a new Chief to get out into a community together and let everyone know that we're a team and it's important uh and for the residents and and I think we have a really good thing here going here the fact that we have such a good relationship and we communicate daily on top of things yeah yeah I grew up here I grew up in Old Bridge and I honestly can't believe how great Old Bridge is doing right now with not when you drive around you look around the golf course it's just uh it's really good times here in Oldbridge yeah yeah a lot of positive and that's what you're exuding to the positivity that's what we need we don't want to you know it's not negative there's so many good things and this is one of them having such a a new you know a new face and and a just such a positive attitude it's it gets to be you know everybody likes that it's contagious you know we have our new K9 program yes we uh we myself and Captain Pines we worked hard to put that program together and um we have the two canines Zeus and Apollo and it was a great process uh we actually got to go uh with the state police and pick the Dogs Out wow and we actually got lucky and you like Zeus you knew right away like we wanted that dog and Apollo he's a different personality but we knew we wanted him and we we got lucky and we saw with Zeus when he made that arrest and that's how that's extremely important my passion is crime prevention you know I I want people here to feel safe in their homes yes and you know it's extremely important and my background when I worked playing clothes uh for almost 10 years wow you know uh that presence is important uh because individuals now in this area are coming into the communities and committing crimes and we're not going to stand for that well that's it the message is clear crime does not pay here if you you know so you have made that very very clear and that's what that's why Debbie is so happy because you know it's it's a big town and she has been totally committed to that because unfortunately people are coming from other towns committing crimes here and then fleeing because it's close but we want to make it known that you're not coming to Oldbridge CU you're going to get caught and that's what happens with all the roads weights here whether it's 9 18 the parkway they just do the what they do and then they get on these roadways so you know yeah the major highway coming from all over a good route for these individuals to get in town and get out of town pretty quickly um we are currently working to deal with the county to install uh plate reading technology on our highways so if stol car comes into Oldbridge on Route 918 or the parkway we deplete the police department be alerted right away and a lot of these individual steel cars and they come into town so uh that's important to me uh but just having a plain close presence and it's no secret we're out there we're out there and we're out there and we're very aggressive I know I saw people on Facebook they saw more tickets were being issued so they're starting to see a police presence out there uh was last year was number one in accidents um and that's just not acceptable yeah so I've been really pushing our guys to be out on the highway our traffic safety unit is out there to slow people down and to prevent accidents we had 92 injuries last year and hopefully this year we can reduce that uh so you'll see you know and we're going to put something out on our Facebook page to the residents Oldbridge to let us you know we're going to start a summer campaign to to you know slow people down and so that's important yeah it is we've talked about a Traffic Safety Committee with the residents partnering having meetings so because they know more also where hot spots are so that would be helpful too yeah that would be great uh we have a really good bunch of guys in in traffic and safety um and they're out they're passionate too I've had a lot of meetings with them which is important and any areas in town that people neighborhood yeah if I get complaints I call we'll get our guys out there and we'll slow people down and that's important yeah and the License Plate Reader another tool in our toolbox so you said yeah cars are stolen 30 cameras in town throughout the town and we're going to we're getting another 30 just to keep an eye on things and then these cameras will have the plate reading technology um so we're in a process of building uh our data center upstairs where we can view these cameras in real time great so that's good that's very I mean the unfortunate thing is the state kind of handcuffs our police though because they let a lot of these criminals out so we really have to focus on putting a little pressure on the governor's office to help our Law enfor Enforcement Officers we when we arrest these individuals they let us know that they'll be out in the street that that's just crazy to go put put an officer in that position go through all that process of apprehending someone and then you send them to the county or wherever and then they're let loose I mean that just happened recently and people don't realize I don't think that it's in our neighborhood and we want to protect them that's what the police department is here and then we do our job and then something like that happens and that's another thing I want to mention I know you have a very good relationship with the county so um the things that you're getting from the county but maybe you could work on them that this isn't this not viable I think everybody uh is on the same page now that this we need to do something about this and I I think we're going to probably get some reform you know uh with the right people in the right places so it's important um the safety uh people's safety is number one in my book and that's all part of the equation if you make an arrest these individuals should go to jail and stay in jail simp it's plain and simple and then that would reduce crime yeah Absol it's simple it's common sense to me I don't even think you have to think twice about that but in the meantime we are very very very active out there both in marked units and on PL close capacity that's good to know for everyone in Oldbridge that they know that it's also good for the criminals to know they're going that's what they said crime don't but the residents are our best asset right yeah if they see something let us know yeah you know call us and uh this way we can start the process and send people out there and we've been doing it if you see something suspicious Mary and you guys let me know on different things and we'll send people out there and just being in that neighborhood and and you could see things and see what's going on yeah even if it's something silly like um I had gotten a call about car kept circling the neighborhood and so we got the license plate and reported because you don't know if they're going to come back cuz catalytic converters are big now stealing them yeah that was that was something that was pretty big uh car theft is obviously pretty big um but um like I said we're not going to stand for any of that good good yeah we're getting a very positive reputation yes and the and the citizens know that and they're appreciative because we are watching out for them and their needs that's a big that's very important and I appreciate all your support and that's important that the police department has the support from the township Partners we want things to be good for we're one we're all one team we think with your leadership um with the members of the police department you're putting people in the right places and moving people where they're you know they're the most valuable to get you know the job done and I think that you're doing a great job yeah we're increasing training for our officers that's extremely important we're uh getting out there uh and we're going to like I said the community policing part of it uh you're going to see a lot of great things coming up from the PD um I want to get out there with the mayor and do smaller Community meetings um National Night outs coming actually last year was a great success that was the first time we and this year it just seems like it's blowing up so we're going to have a really we're going to have to actually expand where we have it yes we will maybe cross the street we're going to have both we're yeah this whole Municipal parking lot I believe is going to be a lot of good things for the kids and stuff last year I think it was put together in a week this year we put it together pretty quick last week and we've been having meetings right now so that's going to be a really good thing and i' a lot of our officers have asked me about volunteering because a lot of these men and women they they love to do that so even for the smaller stuff uh which is a good thing you are watching Council Corner we're going to take commercial break and we'll be right [Music] backy [Music] you're right I love the do like sweet t problem your lips are so Divine your love me my are G that's why I'm going bab let you no no to let you baby going let [Music] you here you go thank you thank you I don't think that many kids in my son's school even do it he makes fun of his friend who Vapes he would never try [Music] it she's in Sovereign she's on the honor she's just not the type no way way no way no way my kid would never Vape get your head out of the cloud today nearly 8,000 kids will start vaping maybe even yours learn about the dangers at Talkabout vaping.in made an assistant to help you prevent wildfires dude I've got this I've been camping since I was 5 years old but I am a camping influencer you know what I'll bet you five bucks okay assistant Smokey what is the best way to put out a campfire mhm to put out a campfire drown with water stir drown again then make sure the the fire is out cold by feeling with the back of your hand wait really I'll take the five [Music] bucks we're here today with the new chief of police Tom Montagna yeah residents like interacting with the police with the fire department they do uh last week we had the Special Olympics and you were so kind to to send officers to come and give out theal they were so the kids were so happy to see them I mean they marched with it was just fantastic so I think the residents really do appreciate and they like that and the these kind of events or what makes it what Old Bridge really is and you're the one the face you know bringing this out when we saw the police that was so nice Karen lii had come to my office and the event was the next day and she said oh I forgot to ask the love when the police put the medals on them I called the chief and he said immed done yeah they love to come out for stuff like that when we made a commitment to Safety in this town and even with equipment uh Vehicles anytime we do a lot through grants but whatever need thing the first thing that we did was the radio you know that you know do that so you know it's important to have the tools that you need to do a good job we're expanding our Fleet which is good and um you know we have a lot of we just got a technology grant for 1.3 million I believe that the township worked hard to get us so that's a great thing we're going to buy a lot of great commitment I we just got another grant for $500,000 to uh update our data center and we're going to actually uh build another one at Cheesequake fire department backup that's almost done just in case something happens here backup all this is through that the town is providing we we have a gr company that is really going out there and finding grants and the town has received millions of millions of dollars in Grants because of this yeah anything available we go out for it that's fantastic and I appreciate that that's the support that the administ job dedicated you have to have the tools yeah and we're we're and we're hiring young officers we have four uh right now that were uh just interviewed and um you know that's a good thing you know expanding the PD yeah and growing it yeah it is absolutely yeah the town's growing like I said I I grew up here I I went to Cheesequake and then MCD call Samberg CED high school so been here my entire life you want to Standridge yeah and you want to stand the kids so that's that's a really really well the main thing is I I built this security program for the schools that we currently have and and Oldbridge actually set the bar in the state of New Jersey for school security and the one that was probably my top three you know Community Police and crime and school security and we uh we just we're expanding that which is a good thing and you know the kids safety is important well yeah and the parents for the parents that's Paramount you want to know you're sending your child to a school that's safe and that they'll be you know anything goes wrong there's a plan so that's important it really really is that's your and we're it's peace of mind right and all our officers are are now we're expanding our training there for officers for uh you know incidents critical incidents and that type of stuff so we're doing really good yeah glad we're glad to hear that I'm sure the town is yes yes yeah I mean safety I think is the number one concern of everyone safety is above everything Recreation yeah well that's why you come to a town you want if you live there you want to be safe and you move to a town if it's safe you know yeah I drive around here uh all the time and I look around I could see the difference you know and you know Oldbridge is unique it is and we uh we do things here you know it 150% all in and that's just the way we work and we had that incident to fire the other day and we had a meeting afterwards and we all said that when things happen here in Oldbridge we just we got it and everyone jumps on board and we're good so you know and and you know I'm just happy that the police department is finally thriving again yeah you everybody did a phenomenal job last week yeah I went down there was impr and and she met me there and and it was a chaotic scene uh sad but we you did a phenomenal job put it all everything was you know we had a between fire and and the school system and the police department State Police uh County uh it was just a great job and that's and we're actually doing more uh training to make sure that when these things happen we're ready to go and uh OEM is important AB here I can't even tell you OEM is a Non-Stop job it's it's 247 oh my god with with the and I don't know if it's just me but the storms that are impacting oh my goodness time yeah it's the town shuts down yeah we're constantly getting flood the same roads are flooded we are so busy when these power outages it's it's been so I appreciate OEM for helping us they're they're awesome so but I think it starts with you and your whole attitude that's it you know when you're you're someone that's approachable you want you you listen but you're going to direct as well and that's a good thing I think everybody understands that and when you start from the top like that and you have positive vision for things you're you're like uh you always think ahead of what needs to be done long range you know fiveyear plan is important 10e plan is important um but communication is number one this new generation these young officers are great and they uh they're quick and they they like to ask me for advice and I love talking to them I've open door policy and that's another thing that's whatever they need and and you know a tough job sometimes you know you might get emotional when I started years ago it was very strict but these kids are different so but and they're out they want to work they want to get out there and they're passionate about it um I one officer that he's obsessed with stolen cars so he's out there and he's like Chief I'm I'm I'm doing this I'm doing he's driving around town he's pinpointing neighborhoods and it worked he actually caught a couple guys in town but that's just their attitude I said go for it a lot of them are exmilitary a lot military guys here and those guys are great and we're uh you know we're we're going to promote those guys with social media when they do a great job you know we have Facebook uh but we're going to try to get a departmental website up to to promote the PD and recruitment um to get new officers to come here so that's things are good H we're trying to make the police more visible we're definitely we work so well together that's that's 30 years went quick huh like I said I I I started in Seaside Park yes uh 1991 wow that's when I started and I remember walking in on my the first interview to be a class one officer and they told me when I was when I got the job I was all excited because I wanted to be a police officer and I wanted to jump in a police car and do good things and lock people up and arrest people and they brought me outside and they said Tom I want to show you your post I was like okay and they pointed to the next block and I said that's going to be your post for the summer and I said what do you mean and I said that's you're going to have to stop traffic so that's all I did all summer it was a full uniform like this and 100 degree heat stopping traffic and I was so everyone's got to start somewhere it's all good look you Le where you are right you're a good example for those guys I came up with you know it shows hard work from the beginning you did what you had to do and that's just the way it is you know when you grow from there yeah you do you were in spots with weren't you or yeah you went from seide uh I went to spots with police department in 1993 and that's a great small little PD they're right next to Bridge and I learned a lot there uh they were my mentor was there that's how I got into like the narcotics thing my my he uh was big into narcotics so he showed me the way and when I came to Oldbridge in 1999 I was I was ready to go and I got out there and you know just made an impact and chief Tom clo at the time he's like Tom I think you'd be a great great detective I and he he appointed me to the detective be on actually the best part of my career uh he sent me to the prosecutor's office I was on loan to the middle sex County Narcotics task force that was a great experience uh and back then we investigated mid the high level traffic narcotics trafficking money laundering and we home invasion everything and anything we did and that was that was the highlight of my career experience I worked a little under cover um so but yeah but it gave you a wealth and now you're visible and and being exposed to so many different things you can help the men in the department women in the department for things they're doing well the one thing that's important to me um is all these relationships that I established through my career with the county uh prosecutor offices uh State Police FBI DEA Postal Service and all these professional relationships and friendships if something happened here in orridge I could pick up the phone and you know the FBI I talk to a bunch of those guys and whatever they need there's a lot of free training that they're going to offer our guys um so all those resources are important and like I said it goes back to how you treat people so and it's a good thing for old bir yeah well even I've heard um you know bordering with Monroe and like we say spots with or saille that you have a very good relationship with other departments too you know when you communicate with and that's important um especially when you have an incident like the fire de the day where all our officers are tied up and then we call other towns and they'll come over the old bridge and help us out which is a good thing and we have a lot of good uh Town surrounding towns here a lot of board of chiefs that are I've been talking to yeah that's wonderful it's it's really nice to know that there's that you're able to get together and if something is wrong everybody's on the same page let's just make it work let's take care of it that's that's very mind you need a strong support system yeah you sure do and when things happen you pick up the phone and there's people that to help you that's important like if there's an impending storm we have meetings upstairs we get people from the surrounding towns we all get together how we're going to handle this yes so we're prepared for storms well that's for the I think the average person doesn't realize everything that goes on behind the scenes that's for sure we have a lot of work a tremendous am of responsibility when the storm hit the township and and the power outages and flooding you know our police officers they're so busy just handling the service calls uh and you need another Dynamic here to handle getting uh information out to the public and calling jcpnl and calling pcng and all those different agencies to get them here and we actually have a pretty good relationship with CHC pnl and when the power goes out we can you know at least get the residence a time frame or when they're how long the power is going to be out but that's important yeah because you don't want public alarm that's the thing you want to be ahead of it so they feel like it's being taken care of they're not happy about it but they're not worried and crazy you know because that's when it starts to fall apart you know the biggest frustration that I see is when people don't know what's going on right and they panic and they panic and you don't you need to communicate that out to the publicness yeah because everyone has an individual problem you may have someone sick in your home that needs needs you know care and stuff like that so it's just an extra layer of panic when they don't know what's going on and we're trying to we have a Cod red system here and I encourage people to get on the o to website and sign up for that and that's an alert system we only have about 2,000 people that are signed up, know amazing to me I'm so glad you mentioned that I just hope the residents do really we're that's important and that's easy to do and and that's a quick you know text or email or phone call about a pending storm or road closure or an earthquake or an earthquake I mean I thought my I was in my office I thought the building was coming out uh which was scary and that and a lot of people had no idea so getting that out to the public right away it was earthquake we're okay yes but we're looking at other new systems that the count is offering that we do better job learning the public yeah we're looking into a new system that it's going to focus on the area that's involved instead of the code red going to everyone it'll find the the exact area and it's going to reach all the residents so we're hoping that's going to happen yeah we're working with the county right now yeah cuz you panic is the worst thing yeah it makes people do really you know dumb stuff I mean people panic when they see a helicopter in the sky why is there a helicopter some people have that doomsday right away it's natural when when when an earthquake happened I immediately was worried about my kids cell phone wasn't working and my son happened to be home that day sick with my wife and no one was answering the phone so my heart would that's what I understand that the residents go through the same exactly and as a police department we can you know Su that try to try to keep them calm and keep it confident and that's what you are and that's what you exude and that's what the town needs yeah we want the people informed so they don't have to panic you know people running around all the quicker we get the information out to them yeah the quicker you do the quicker they'll Cal down we try we like with the explosion we tried to get it on Facebook as soon as we could yeah that that was that was scary because we had the school right across the street but there was nothing in that building that was that put any kids in danger that's good we were lucky VOR school was behind and we were able to Evac it from behind have you know very good SRO in town and they were right there they're right on top of it we work very well with the Board of Education and the principles and it's important for us to all work together they were we were talking to them and they knew exactly what the plan was and actually when we move the kids just to move them because the buses there was some Logistics getting getting the buses in it went smooth great it went smooth and we actually talked to the school there's some things we can tweak and we're doing that well unfortunately sometimes until an event occurs you don't see maybe a little Wrinkle in the carpet so to speak where you have to make a little adjustment that's how you know what I mean and then you grow you know you grow from there because sometimes until you're in it it can't see everything you know yeah it's never Ault Day always something new something when you're a police officer or mayor council person but you know I know we're all passionate about the same thing that's the res Old Bridge every day it's a new adventure especially here at home Bridge yes it is it's a diverse community and lot going on time it's a great it's a great town it sure is it really is yep we love it and we hope we all continue to make a positive difference in this town yeah yeah we're we're doing good things and if anyone's out there um that they feel they they want to reach out to me I'm always available you can stop and see me or send me an email or a phone call and I I correspond with a lot of people via email usually if they have an issue they send me an email and I'll I'll make sure we we're on top of it uh or I'll talk to the mayor and she'll get right on it and you know it's that's that's important well we're excited we really appreciate we look forward to hearing from other people in the department and tell us this was a good thing and I think what we're going to do is we'll have other people departments come here and we'll do a different while our I think they want bring our two canines on superar we'll see how we could uh get that going get our maybe our two dogs here and then uh we'll expand that and we'll do some good stuff here and if to catch up to Zeus though Zeus has an arrest oh boy Apollo's they he's in training and Zeus is he's he's he's in training also well hopefully because they're here crime's going to be down and they can just enjoy being being about yeah but really no this was a pleasure having you and we want the community know you know all about you and we welcome you we are very excited yes wish you all the best thank you God and uh we look forward to hearing all the good things and thank you for saying yes when I into the position I know that was you might leave here and go off yeah but you know it's a big it's a big b job job y we are we're ready for it y we're definitely oh I could tell we're ready to go absolutely reach out to me anytime oh absolutely you're going to be regular on this Council cor we'll do a weekly address of mean we want to try to do something like that little address we can come out here just a short little thing what's happening but we're GNA definitely uh start getting out to the community uh I've been meeting with different businesses so maybe we'll go out to the different business and different parts of the township and do smaller Community meetings and just meet the public and see what kind of concerns they have and address those concerns great thank you so much going be busy that's for sure we'll be busy we're all good thank you Chief thank you appreciate it thank you pleasure thank you for joining us I hope you enjoyed the program today we had the pleasure of having Chief Montagna with us please join us for our next episode [Music] [Music]