The new chief of police has spent almost his entire career in Chatham Township.
When Steven Hennelly took the oath of office that made him chief on Feb. 14, he did so in front of all his family — even his parents, who came for the first time to watch him get sworn in. "They haven't been to any of my promotions, but they always said if I got promoted to chief, they'd come," he said. Hennelly has spent more than 25 of his 28 years in law enforcement with the Chatham Township Police Department. After serving under five of the township's 10 police chiefs, he became the 11th person to lead the department since 1927. It can be a daunting role, especially given the reputations of past chiefs. "[Chief] Russ Bey was the kind of guy that in a snow storm, if you were going to have a baby, the nearest hospital I think was in …
John Paton's last day with the Chatham Township Police Department will be Thursday, Jan. 31.
It might be hard for some residents of Chatham Township to remember a time when John Paton was not an employee of the police department. "I started as a dispatcher 32 years ago, the first civilian dispatcher," Paton, 56, said. From there he became a patrolman, a detective, a sergeant and finally, in March 2009, the chief of the department. He retires just shy of four years as chief, which he regards as perfect timing. "Three to five years [as chief] is a good term to do things. Shorter than that you can't get anything done, longer than that you may become stagnant," he said. In Paton's time with the department, he served under five police chiefs. When he took over the role, he had plans to improve organization and work flow. "It's weird, …
Policy will help neighborhoods report issues and recover faster from severe issues, such as snow storms.
Chatham Township Police Chief John Paton introduced a new community policing scheme to the township committee Thursday during their regular meeting. Under the new initiative, police officers will be assigned a specific neighborhood to patrol regularly. The officer will be responsible for responding to the particular concerns of each neighborhood. "The concept of community-oriented policing is to return to the days of the beat cop, where the officer knew everybody on his beat and everybody knew him," Paton said. "That builds rapport between the citizens and the officers and allows us to focus on the concerns of those neighborhoods." Where possible, beaurocratic "red tape" has been minimized to empower officers to respond directly to the …
Chatham Resident Too
8:43 pm on Sunday, February 10, 2013
That's not true either John. Over 60% of your taxes go to the joint school system. Sounds like you're elderly and don't understand that suburbia is for families raising kids, like it or not. The elderly always bitch about the school system because they dont have kids in school. Good schools make your home more valuable - no matter which end of town your in. more ›