Chief Names Cop Who Will Become Full-Time WMC Officer

LONG VALLEY, N.J. – A decision has been made on which Washington Township Police Officer will become the full-time School Resource Officer at West Morris Central High School.

Kirk Griffin, a member of the force since 2004, will take on the full-time position at the school on Jan. 1, 2017, Chief Jeffrey Almer announced. From September through Jan. 1, Griffin will visit the school and begin getting the position in order, but not yet full time, Almer said.

See related: Central, Town Agree To Put Full-Time Officer In High School

Griffin is a former Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer and as a member of the patrol division has been very involved in community policing throughout his career.

West Morris Regional Board of Education Superintendent Michael Ben-David and Almer connected on the idea to put a full-time officer in West Morris Central (Mendham has had one for about a decade). On Monday, May 16, both the Washington Township Committee and West Morris Regional Board of Education approved a resolution to complete the shared service agreement.

See the full details of Griffin’s duties here.

In December of 2015, the district had security expert Patrick Doyle come in and assess security protocol West Morris Central and West Morris Mendham, which confirmed Superintendent Michael Ben-David’s assumption that a District Security Manager should be employed to oversee both school campuses.

In doing so, both schools would need equivalent, on-site security measures. West Morris Mendham has employed a Senior Resource Officer from the Mendham Borough Police Department for about a decade, and Ben-David said the same would be done at Central.

“When I came in and looked at the organizational structure,” Ben-David said, “I could see more needed to be done in terms of security. We needed to do better, and now we’ve refined operations, targeted issues and are bringing security measures up-to-date.

“I found a great partner in (Washington Township Police) Chief Jeff Almer, who felt the same why I did, and we worked to get this done,” Ben-David continued. “This is a great partnership for the school, for the town, and most importantly for the students.”