Decision Expected on Colonial Alliance Police RFP Soon

Officials from the seven-town Colonial Alliance held a closed-door meeting Thursday to discuss next steps in the awarding of a contract for a police consolidation feasibility study.

Police chiefs were invited to attend the meeting, according to sources, and the results of the discussion are expected to be released in a joint announcement from the Colonial Alliance member communities: Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Township, Oaklyn, Mt. Ephraim, and Audubon.

Haddon Heights, an alliance member, already has withdrawn from the process.

Further details were not immediately available.

Three companies bid on the job back in August:

• Matrix Consulting Group of Mountainview, CA ($45,000) 
• Center for Government Research of Rochester, NY ($98,000)
• Ronin Security Solutions of Haddonfield, NJ ($191,245)

The RFP calls for a four-month timeline for the completion of the study from the date any contract is awarded. 

The stated goal of the request for proposals is “increasing law enforcement administrative efficiency without interfering with overriding public safety concerns, while reducing redundancy of services amongst agencies.”

It is not meant "to combine police departments,” Collingswood Mayor James Maley said at the July 2013 meeting of the Collingswood borough commissioners, when the study was announced. 

The potential of a merger drew some criticism from one police chief and a Haddon Heights councilman.