Township Police Department Moving Forward After Rough Patch

There’s a new police chief at the helm of Princeton Township’s police department, less than a year after the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office seized control and announced criminal investigation into then-chief Mark Emann and two other officers.

The new chief, Bob Buchanan, is a 36-year-veteran of law enforcement and has spent the last 31 years with Princeton Township Police, mostly recently as captain.

He has been at the helm of the department officially since the beginning of March and informally before, after the Mercer County  Prosecutor’s Office on Oct. 1 announced it was seizing day-to-day control over the department and launching an investigation into then-Chief Mark Emman, Lt. Michael Henderson and Cpl. Arthur Villaruz for allegedly selling township property. 

All three were served with administrative charges and suspended from duty.  They have all since resigned.

In January, Emann pled not guilty to third-degree theft by deception in state Superior Court in Mercer County and entered a pre-trial intervention program that requires supervision, 40 hours of community service and restitution to the township.

“(The investigation) was such a black eye on the department,” Buchanan said recently. “It was three officers that made a mistake and they were dealt with. It wasn’t the rest of us.”

Buchanan hopes to make the department’s Community Services Bureau, created last year, more active by conducting community surveys to find out what the department is doing right and targeting areas for improvement.

“Other than that, it’s about running a good department and providing excellent service to the community,” Buchanan said. “Our people never once wavered in their commitment to the community (during the past year). They went out and did their job, I’m pretty proud of that.”

Last year, the Police Department became accredited by the state following a three-year process, Buchanan says with pride.

In 2010, the Police Department responded to more than 21,000 calls for service. Fewer than 700 of those were for crimes, the others covered a range of reasons, including alarms, ambulance calls, noise complaints and broken down vehicles.

Buchanan, was born and raised in Princeton. He attended Princeton schools and graduated from Princeton High School.

He was an eighth-grader at Valley Road School when Officer Al Funk came into his classroom to talk to students. Watching that “great, big, tall patrolman,” Buchanan knew he was destined for law enforcement.

“I said this is what I want to do,” Buchanan remembered.  “I was so impressed with that guy.”

Little did he know that years later, when he joined the Princeton department, first as a patrolman, then as detective, that he would be partnered with Funk, a man he describes as his mentor.

Over the years, Buchanan has held every position in the township Police Department, except corporal, and that’s only because he created the corporal’s position when he was lieutenant.

Buchanan lives in Ewing with Margaret, his wife of 24 years, and the couple’s sons Peter, 20, and Cody, 18.

When the county prosecutor’s office announced its investigation last fall, it came as a shock to township officials.

The prosecutor’s office investigation alleged that Emann obtained two weapons, valued at $2,400, by deception on June 1, 2007. The incident allegedly involved the trade of an antique weapon owned by the department for a rifle and revolver for the chief, in addition to several rifles and other equipment for the Police Department.

Emann retired from the Police Department and has agreed to forfeit all future government employment. 

Thinking about what’s transpired in his department over the past several months, Buchanan relayed a recent personal experience.

He said during a recent family trip out to dinner, son Peter put his arm around him, pulled his head down and told his father, ‘I’m proud of you.’

“It means a lot to them that I wasn’t sucked into that,” Buchanan said.