Upgrades To Marlboro Emergency Dispatch Included In Grant Request

MARLBORO, NJ — Plans to upgrade the township's dispatch equipment may get a boost if a federal Community Project Funding Request is approved in the next few months.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-3rd District, has submitted a funding request of $930,000 for capital improvements for the Marlboro dispatch system to the House Appropriations Committee.

The funding, if approved, would support an upgrade to all telecommunications services used by the Marlboro Township Police Department, Kim said in the request.

"The project is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because it will allow the police division to enhance its communications technical equipment and thereby enhance its community policing efforts by being able to use telecommunications equipment on a frequency free of interference from other users. Doing so will improve police effectiveness and enhance public safety," Kim said in the request.

Mayor Jon Hornik has supported keeping emergency dispatch local, while making investments to upgrade the system. About $4 million has been allocated by the Township Council for the project.

"We were very pleased to hear that Congressman Kim chose the Marlboro Township Police Communication Equipment upgrade to submit as one of his 15 priorities to the House Appropriations committee," Hornik said in a statement. Members of Congress may recommend up to 15 projects for the Community Project Funding Request.

Hornik said that after careful analysis and numerous meetings with the public safety team, "I proposed that we invest in upgrading the township’s communication system utilizing the state-of-the-art infrastructure established by the New Jersey State Police. The funding will be used for police radios, representing one component of this once in a generation public safety communications infrastructure upgrade.”

The Marlboro Township Council voted in November to keep police, emergency medical, and fire dispatch local, with approximately $4 million allocated to pay for upgrades to improve the system.

In unanimous votes, the council approved a resolution authorizing a New Jersey Interoperable Communications System user agreement with the state, and it authorized a contract with Motorola, Inc. for communications equipment and accessories for the local Department of Public Safety.

Hornik, who has consistently supported keeping the service local despite some calls in the past to consider a contract with Monmouth County, said the township can now move forward to improve the service.

"This is the best way to keep the township self-sufficient," he said.

Police Chief Peter Pezzullo in November presented the Township Council with a study that outlined current problems and the options to address them. Current communications components have reached the end of their useful life, he said at the time.

Inadequate frequencies have meant emergency personnel dispatched to incidents can hit dead spots in a building where they don't have communication or they experience interference from commercial broadcast stations, he said.

He said the department researched various options to correct these conditions, and rejected a "Band-Aid" approach of making limited repairs. It also rejected using the county as the answering point for township public safety calls out of concern for response times and the need to make local response a priority.