By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Ocean City Police Department has become the first law enforcement agency in New Jersey to win accreditation for a sixth time, once again giving it a highly coveted recognition of professional excellence.
Harry Delgado, accreditation program director for the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, presented Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman with a certificate of accreditation during a ceremony at a City Council meeting Thursday night.
Delgado said the OCPD had “no blemishes” during the rigorous accreditation process and serves as a model for other law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
He added that Prettyman and the rest of the OCPD have achieved a “standard of excellence.”
“Since 2006, it has been embedded in the way they have delivered law enforcement services to the community,” Delgado said, referring to the first year the OCPD was accredited.
A team of assessors from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police examined all aspects of the OCPD’s policies and procedures, management, operations and support services this year. As part of the accreditation process, members of the public were invited to make comments about the police department.
The New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, through its New Jersey Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, is the accreditation agency in New Jersey.
Accreditation is valid for a three-year period, during which time the law enforcement agency must submit annual reports attesting to its continued compliance with the accreditation standards.
“Accreditation results in greater accountability within the agency, reduced risk and liability exposure, stronger defense against civil lawsuits, increased community advocacy, and more confidence in the agency’s ability to operate efficiently and respond to community needs,” Prettyman said in a statement.
In remarks to City Council, Delgado noted that this was the first time that he had handed out a certificate of accreditation for a sixth time, an achievement he called “truly remarkable.”
Four other New Jersey law enforcement agencies are within the same cycle as the OCPD to win accreditation for the sixth time, but they have not yet been awarded their certificates.
“We are the first to get it six times, but will be joined by four others pretty soon. Either way, it’s a huge accomplishment for our staff and unprecedented for sure,” Prettyman said.
Prettyman praised the 68 members of the OCPD for “building those bridges” with the community to make the department’s sixth accreditation possible. He also commended Lt. Pat Walsh, who served as the department’s “quarterback” overseeing the accreditation process. Walsh formally accepted the certificate of accreditation.
After the ceremony, Mayor Jay Gillian and members of Council praised Prettyman and the rest of the police department.
“Our police and fire departments do a great job,” Gillian said.
Gillian also thanked Council for supporting the police department by giving Prettyman and the officers the tools they need to protect the community.
“We have a fabulous police department,” Councilman Jody Levchuk said. “I don’t think there’s a place where you can feel safer than Ocean City.”
While singling out Prettyman for his leadership, Councilman Tom Rotondi called the police department “phenomenal.”
“I think it just speaks to his (leadership) and the quality of the people who protect us in town,” Councilman Terry Crowley Jr. said of Prettyman and the department.
In other business Thursday, Council approved the hiring of an Atlantic City law firm to represent Ocean City in a legal dispute with a state regulatory agency over a transmission line that would serve an offshore wind energy farm.
Over the objections of Ocean City, the state Board of Public Utilities in September approved plans for a transmission line that would run through environmentally sensitive areas of the beach to connect the proposed Ocean Wind 1 project to a land-based power grid.
Orsted, a Danish energy company that is developing the project, wants to bring electricity onshore in Ocean City through a cable at the beach lots of 35th Street to connect the offshore wind turbines to the power grid at the former B.L. England Generating Station in Marmora.
The city argued unsuccessfully before the BPU that the transmission line would disturb environmentally sensitive areas of Ocean City’s beachfront and wetlands. Ocean City officials want Orsted to instead run the transmission line through what they believe would be a less harmful route that would take it across the Great Egg Harbor Inlet.
As the next step in the legal battle, the city plans to appeal the BPU’s decision in favor of Orsted. Council hired the Atlantic City law firm of Cooper Levenson to handle the appeal.
“The city is challenging the BPU’s decision granting easements and permits to install cables throughout the island,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said.
Orsted has proposed running 99 huge wind turbines 15 miles offshore from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor, passing by Ocean City in the process. The wind farm is currently in the planning and permitting phase and is scheduled for completion by 2024.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, Council awarded a nearly $1.8 million construction contract for road work and drainage improvements to help reduce flooding along a stretch of West Avenue from 18th Street to 26th Street.
The project will include repaving the roadway, adding new drainage pipes to ease tidal flooding and making improvements to the curbs, sidewalks and gutters.
