Freehold police department traces roots back to 1919
Formation of borough’s
force coincides with break
from Freehold Township
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD — The borough’s police force started modestly with the appointment of Joseph Clancy as a special police officer at $3 per day on Sept. 15, 1919.

The action took place at the first meeting of the governing body of the newly formed municipality, following the town’s separation from Freehold Township.

As a matter of fact, the initial order of business for that first Borough Council was to create the town’s very own police force. A police committee comprised of councilmen Peter F. Runyon and Joseph E. DuBois was appointed to concentrate on the creation of that force. The police budget for 1920 was $3,000.

Over the years the Freehold Borough Police Department has evolved into a force of 31 uniformed officers, which will expand to 32 when Maribel Mora, the borough’s first full-time female police officer, joins the department at the end of the year.

In the early days, the police department shared space on the second floor of the firehouse at 49 W. Main St. with the council. The office was a one-room cubbyhole.

In January 1979 the police department moved to the former Bennett Street School at Bennett and Hudson streets. The department has remained there for 23 years.

In early August the police department plans to move into its new modern headquarters in the Rug Mill Towers at Jackson and Center streets. The borough’s municipal court operation will also move from the Bennett Street building to the Rug Mill Towers.

After 83 years, this will be the first facility in Freehold specifically designed to house the fully computerized police department.

The police budget for 2002 is approximately $2.5 million.

A thorough chronological history of the borough’s police force was completed by the late Sgt. Anthony D. Grove on March 31, 1980. Grove joined the department as a patrolman on Oct. 30, 1952, and after 27 years of service, he retired on April 1, 1980.

On Nov. 3, 1919, the council adopted an ordinance officially establishing the county seat’s first police department, consisting of two or more men, one to be designated as chief of police, salaries to be $1,200 for chief, $1,000 for the patrolman and $5 per day for special officers. Parking regulations and traffic control were to be the major concerns of the borough’s police.

A federal marshal and his assistants who had handled law enforcement in the community were phased out at the beginning of 1920.

The borough’s first official police department, appointed at a council meeting on Jan. 1, 1920, consisted of Chief Joseph R. Gravatt, J. Walter Cottrell, police officer, and Clancy and Bloom-field Longstreet as special officers.

By the end of 1921, when the police budget was $4,500, both Gravatt and Cottrell had resigned from the department.

The police ordinance was revised, creating a force consisting of two patrolmen of equal rank. Edwin Sloat, later to be appointed chief of police, was named first officer in 1922. Meanwhile, Clancy remained in his patrolman’s position.

Cornelius DeVries and Leo Galcher, two former New Jersey State Police troopers who would later serve long stints as chiefs of police in the borough, joined the department in the 1920s and 1930s, respectively.

DeVries, a graduate of the first state trooper class, joined the borough police department in June 1923. His career would span 39 years until his retirement as chief in 1962. He was appointed chief in 1926.

Galcher became a member of the department in September 1933, its fourth member, and would serve 35 years until his retirement as chief in 1969.

Paul Coyne, who joined the department in August 1941, just before the beginning of World War II, was found dead at the foot of the stairs leading to police headquarters on Feb. 19, 1952, of an apparent heart attack, the first fatality suffered by an active borough officer.

Herman Struve (1943-1971) and Joseph Baskerville (1946-1967) were the first blacks to join the department as special officers. Both men made outstanding contributions to law enforcement in the borough.

Henry T. Lefkowitz, who joined the department in September 1948, was appointed the department’s fourth chief in 1969, a post he would hold until his retirement in 1980.

Richard Hibbs, who joined the force in 1958, would serve briefly as police chief in the early 1980s. In 1981, a state Attorney General’s Office investigation resulted in the indictment and subsequent convictions of Hibbs and Sgt. Gary B. Louk and their suspension from the department. Both men were convicted of being involved in the altering of evidence in a driving while intoxicated case.

From that point, Lt. William Burlew, who joined the police department in 1969, would run the department as officer in charge until his appointment as police chief at the beginning of 1984. Burlew served as chief until his retirement in April 2000.

In July 1983, James Irby became the first person fatally shot by a borough police officer — Patrolman Michael Whaley.

The incident resulted in the department going to 12-hour shifts for four days to cope with potential civil unrest. No such unrest materialized, however. Also as a result of this incident Whaley and Sgt. Terry Guy retired on medical disability because of the traumatic stress caused by the shooting.

Capt. Michael DiAiso served as acting police chief from April to September 2000, when the current chief, Michael Beierschmitt, was appointed to the post.