Video: Police commendation, courtesy of Friends of Televised Access in Morris Township
By Kevin Coughlin
A thin blue line soon will run along Woodland Avenue in Morris Township, to show support for the police.
Committeeman Peter Mancuso announced the move at Wednesday’s Township committee meeting, during a ceremony honoring the department.
“The thin blue line represents the officers as the fine line between good and evil, between chaos and order. It is a show of support for police, acknowledging the role they play in society,” said Mancuso. “We are grateful for all you do to keep us safe.”
He remembered officers in Dallas, Baton Rouge and elsewhere slain during the turbulent summer of 2016.
“No words can express the pain of the families of the fallen officers,” said Mancuso, whose father was a detective in New York. “We grieve alongside all of you. Each fallen officer is one too many.”
Township police have been busy responding to incidents including the discovery of a backpack containing bullets near the Frelinghuysen Middle School, and an online threat against the school. They have beefed up their school patrols.
Deputy Mayor Bruce Sisler, police commissioner for the last six years, has two children who attend local schools.
“Pulling up to those schools the last couple of weeks and seeing a few [police] guys out there meant a lot to me, and it really meant a lot to our other moms and dads who were really scared by what’s going on,” said Sisler, praising the department as New Jersey’s finest.
Mayor Dan Caffrey said fellow commuters shared his appreciation for the department’s presence at Convent Station after the weekend discovery of bombs near the Elizabeth train station.
Convent Station was the only stop on his NJ Transit Midtown Direct line with any visible police presence on Monday, Caffrey said.
“Folks on the train noticed, and were talking about it. You folks definitely made a difference on that morning, when there was a potential threat,” said the Mayor, citing an online ranking of the Township as the 39th safest of New Jersey’s 565 municipalities.
‘THEY WANT TO GO HOME TONIGHT’
Accepting a proclamation on behalf of his assembled officers, Police Chief John McGuinness, acknowledged the climate of uneasiness across the nation in the wake of controversial shootings of, and by, police.
“On this job you never know what’s going to happen,” McGuinness said. “And we feel the pain when someone is hurt across this country that wears blue, just like we do.
“We also feel the pain, and see it…when individuals are shot and killed. I’ve never hired an officer that’s come in for an interview and said, ‘You know chief, I can’t wait to get my gun, so I can shoot somebody.’ Nobody says that.
“It’s part of our job, that society gives us, to protect you. And again, you never know what you’re going to walk into,” said McGuinness, recounting a moment early in his career when he discovered a double murder.
He also cited this week’s shootout in Linden, when police awakened bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami on a stoop.
When his officers go on duty each night, McGuinness said, “there is no telling what they’re going to come across. But they do it. They love it. But more importantly, they want to go home tonight, and tomorrow, to their families. And that’s number one for us.”
