Beefing Up Police Department Is A Priority In Parsippany, Mayor Says

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Public safety has become a big topic around the township, with residents speaking up about their fears and anxieties at recent town council meetings.

To help quell those anxieties, Mayor James Barberio has restated the township's commitment to the police department, stating that the town is working on beefing up the local police force in the coming years.

The Parsippany Police Department has often been described as understaffed by the township due to a hiring freeze imposed by the previous administration, which reduced the town to 81 deployable officers from more than 100 five years ago.

Barberio stated that the town hired 14 police officers in the last year, but that some of those hires were simply replacements rather than additions to the force.

"We have to work with what we have. As you know, we have budgetary constraints, but at the same time, we have the proper training, and we're going to get it back up to 106 police officers over time," Barberio said.

During the July 25 town council meeting, Richard Pantina, Parsippany's police chief, spoke up, addressing some of the concerns of the public while making the department's current struggles known.

"Staffing this department the way it needs to be is a top priority. I know we have been replacing people as they leave, and I'm telling you in advance, next year we are going to push for more people to actually build the number up," Pantina said.

The administration asked Pantina to speak at the meeting to help put the current safety concerns in the township into perspective. In recent weeks, Parsippany has been subject to several commercial burglaries and an uptick in car burglaries.

"I just want you to be confident that the police department is doing everything they can do to prevent or to be more aware of these crimes that are happening. We are investigating all of them," Pantina said. "We are very close to solving those six, that happened the other night."

While specific questions about the investigations were not permitted to be answered in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation, Pantina did state that the police department has made some changes in order to reallocate the department's "manpower" to where it is most needed.

"We changed our schedule to put men in at different times, where the crimes are higher," Pantina said. "We have great men and women who are very highly trained; they really do care about this township and the people that work here."

Pantina also stated that, despite recent incidents, the township's crime rate is lower this year than last. So far in 2023, there have been approximately 19 car thefts, but approximately eight or nine of those incidents were the result of non-aggressive situations, such as someone taking their boyfriend's car or failing to return a car to a leasing company.

"We have had incidents where burglaries are part of the problem. They'll go into a house, burglarize the house, take the keys and take the car. Most of the time, that's their main purpose; it's to get an expensive car that's in the driveway," Pantina said.

Despite the council's and police chief's comments, some residents spoke up during public comment, emphasizing that they still do not feel safe in town. Stacey Richards, a resident who had her car's catalytic converter stolen this summer, described her anxiety as continuing to this day.

"I don't feel safe anymore. I know you guys are doing everything that you can, but when it happens to you, it's completely different. I don't feel like in September I can open my windows and sleep with my windows open anymore," Richards said.

Councilman Paul Carifi, Jr., emphasized that the police department is doing all that it can and shifted his frustrations toward state legislators and the current bail reform process in New Jersey.

"What people need to do is you need to talk to your legislators. The police departments are locking these people up; the problem is they get right out. There have been incidences where a person breaks into a house in one town, two hours later that person is back out on the street," Carifi, Jr. said.