We had been told to expect a sea of blue police uniforms to flood the Township Committee meeting last night. To our surprise, it was more of a trickle.

While a number of Maplewood residents and business owners voiced concerns that public safety will suffer without the three officers whose contracts expire at the end of the month, only two police officers appeared—Police Department Chief Robert Cimino and Police Benevolent Association chapter president Kevin Kisch.

The people speaking on behalf of the officers said that public safety would suffer with a reduced police force. Several said they believed crime to be on the rise of late, and noted the poor timing for a police staff reduction.

Addressing the Township Committee during the meeting’s opening comments section, Cimino pointed to the overall quality of the force, and the jobs the three officers have done. Also, he emphasized the human cost of the layoffs.

“I feel for them personally because I brought them on this job,” Cimino said. He asked the Committee to look into alternative methods of funding for the jobs.

Kisch argued that Maplewood is developing and becoming more densely populated, and that with density comes an increased burden on the police. He listed a number of multi-unit residential properties that have come to the Township in recent years. “Every time one of these opens, it stretches us further,” Kisch said.

The township government, he said, still had time to find a way to pay for the jobs. “We have two weeks to work,” Kisch said. “There is something that can be done. I am sure of it.”

In response, Mayor De Luca noted that the budgetary pain was not limited to the police department; almost all town departments have enacted layoffs, furloughs, reduced benefits or other cost-saving measures. The Township was able to buy time for the officers through grant money; De Luca said that while the Committee would look for solutions, the possibility that another outside funding source would come through before the end of the month looked “bleak.”

Township officials had hoped a federal Department of Justice grant the police department applied for would fund the jobs. However, Cimino said, the DOJ has notified the force that the grant money wouldn’t be available until October, and that there was no guarantee the Township would be awarded the money.