Monmouth County Catholic Schools, Police Vow To Work Together

FREEHOLD, NJ — Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago and the superintendent of schools for the Catholic diocese of Trenton, Vincent de Paul Schmidt, met at the prosecutor's office Monday, where they signed a renewed memorandum of agreement.

The agreement is designed to ensure cooperation between law enforcement and Catholic schools countywide.

Here are the seven scenarios that require mandatory reporting to law enforcement if they happen at a Catholic school in Monmouth County: Any incident involving controlled dangerous substances (CDS), or drugs, firearms and dangerous weapons, planned or threatened violence, sexual offenses, assaults on school personnel, bias incidents or potentially missing, abused or neglected children.

Catholic schools are now also required to notify police when incidents of cyber-harassment and hazing occur.

The agreement also requires the designation of a liaison between each Catholic school and local law enforcement.

There are five Catholic high schools in Monmouth County: St. Rose in Belmar, St. John Vianney in Holmdel, Christian Brothers Academy in the Lincroft section of Middletown, Red Bank Catholic in Red Bank and Trinity Hall in Tinton Falls.

There are also 10 Catholic elementary schools serving pre-kindergarten/kindergarten through eighth grade.

“Catholic schools in Monmouth County enroll thousands of students. Srengthening the already sturdy bonds between them and their local police agencies serves to benefit everyone – from the students themselves to the faculty to the rank-and- file police officers,” said Prosecutor Santiago.