[Adopted 10-7-1975 by Ord. No. 244]
The Police Department in the Township of Patterson
is hereby reestablished in accordance with the following terms and
provisions of this Part 1.
The police force of the Township of Patterson
shall consist of four full-time police officers, one of which shall
be designated by the Township Commissioners as Chief of Police, and
another police officer shall be designated Assistant Chief of Police
as certified by the Civil Service Commission, and such other full-
and part-time police officers to be designated as patrolmen, school
crossing guards and any other police officers that the Board of Commissioners
may from time to time deem necessary. In addition, in case of emergency,
the Township Police Commissioner may appoint temporary policemen for
the protection of persons or property.
The Police Department and all police officers
thereof shall be under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Police
of the Board of Township Commissioners. The Chief of Police shall
have jurisdiction over the other members of the police force to the
extent authorized by the Chairman of the Police Department of the
Board of Township Commissioners.
The member of the Board of Township Commissioners
designated as Commissioner of Police shall have the power to temporarily
suspend any police officer for what he deems justifiable cause up
to such time as the next regular meeting of the Board of Township
Commissioners, at which time the matter of the suspension shall be
brought before the entire Board of Commissioners for action, but in
no way is this section to prevent the individual under suspension
from appealing directly to the Civil Service Commission of the Township
of Patterson.
In the event of absence from duty by reason
of vacation, illness or disability or in the event of a suspension,
the Commissioner of Police may designate another member of the Police
Department as Acting Chief, Acting Assistant Chief, which appointment
shall be brought before the Board of Commissioners for approval at
the next regular meeting, whereupon the Secretary of the Township
Board of Commissioners shall notify the Civil Service Commission asking
for its certification or its rejection of the applicant for this temporary
position.
Persons serving as either full-time or part-time
officers in the Police Department of the Township of Patterson shall
receive such compensation as the Board of Township Commissioners may,
from time to time, by motion, determine.
The Township police are given the authority
to respond, within the limits of available manpower, to requests for
aid from any police agency relative to an emergency situation, except
as to communities with which the Township has a police protection
agreement. The Township police will not, as a matter of routine policy,
answer requests for aid from citizens in neighboring adjoining communities;
however, they may respond to emergency requests for aid from citizens
in neighboring, adjoining communities only if on the surface of the
complaint the facts indicate that the physical well-being or life
of an individual hangs in the balance. Assuming that all conditions
of this section have been complied with, any Township police officer
responding to a request for aid from an area outside the boundaries
of the Township of Patterson will do so with the complete support
of the Township Board of Commissioners and with the same protection,
insurance and other related fringe benefits normally afforded Township
police officers during the course of their duties within the limits
of the Township of Patterson.
