Video: Police Chief Pete Demnitz on lessons learned from local and national incidents
By Kevin Coughlin
During his 33 years as a cop, Morristown Police Chief Pete Demnitz has paid close attention to local and national incidents
He has learned how to handle “the stare” from cop-haters in coffee shops, and how to handle white supremacists who march into town.
Post-Columbine, he revised tactics for dealing with shooters in schools. After the Boston Marathon bombing, he made sure his officers were equipped with tourniquets.
“We train like nobody else,” Demnitz told the town council on Tuesday. “The police department is pretty much ready for everything.”
Demnitz reflected on his career, changes he’s seen in Morristown, and the need for constant training to keep pace with evolving threats during a 15-minute presentation.
While Morristown isn’t perfect, “it’s a pretty nice place to be,” said the chief, acknowledging the town’s economic renaissance and sharing statistics indicating large percentage drops in several crime categories since 1997.
Violent crime has decreased by 40 percent, and nonviolent crime, by 68 percent, even as the population has risen by 13 percent, he said.
Demnitz, chief for the last dozen years, credited training with preparing two of his officers to arrest an armed black youth without firing a shot on Labor Day.
“I know people being shot and shootings are a big issue in this country. We train to shoot well, and to have confidence not to shoot,” said the Morristown High School alumnus.
He also emphasized cooperation among law enforcement, citing a team effort that provided security at last weekend’s Morristown Festival on the Green, an event that came just one week after bombings at the Jersey Shore and in Manhattan.
“We’re never afraid to ask for help,” Demnitz said, noting assistance from Morris County agencies and the State Police.
HARD LESSONS, SIMPLE STEPS
Of course, law enforcement always is a work in progress. Public housing residents in Morristown’s Second Ward continue to raise concerns about late-night loitering by unruly youths and even sporadic gunshots.
The chief has invited clergy and civic leaders to ride with his patrols, in hopes of addressing the socioeconomic issues underlying these problems.
“You take any city and scrunch it into 2.8 miles, and you have a little bit of everything,” Demnitz said of Morristown.
Hard lessons about community relations were learned when a black man, Anthony Jackson, died in police custody in 1987.
“We went through everything that occurred in Ferguson,” Demnitz said, referring to the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by police near St. Louis.
The Rodney King beating by L.A. police in 1991 provided another stark reminder that maintaining good relations with the community is essential for good policing, he said.
Demnitz remembered when the historic Morristown Green was a not-so-friendly place. The Epstein’s and Macy’s department stores closed, many downtown storefronts were vacant and the town was heading in the wrong direction.
Redevelopment of “The Hole” on Speedwell Avenue into Headquarters Plaza, and the transformation of the once-decrepit Community Theatre into the world-class Mayo Performing Arts Center, turned things around, he said.
The chief also thanked Mayor Tim Dougherty for supporting re-staffing of the police force, which was down to 48 members because of retirements a few years ago. It now has 55 officers, Demnitz said. Half of them have wearable video cameras, and he anticipates the entire department will have body cams by year’s end.
Yet community policing is more than fancy technology. Often, he said,it boils down to such basics as follow-up phone calls (“How’s that barking dog?”) and “Good Morning.”
“If you walk with me into a coffee shop, you will get ‘the stare,'” Demnitz told the council. “And it’s your first opportunity to interact with people. It’s a stare based on the uniform. It’s a stare based on somebody’s poor experience with a police officer. And many people will throw that stare your way.
“And police officers have a choice on that first day on the job. Am I going to return that stare, am I going to build that wall between myself and the community? Or am I going to do something as simple as say ‘Good Morning’?
“I was taught, and I chose, to say Good Morning, whether I’m in a coffee shop, I’m walking South Street, or walking Martin Luther King Avenue. And that’s our community policing.”
Must agree.
Morristown is very fortunate to have Chief Peter Demnitz leading their police force. Safety and security are his primary focus daily. His desire to go into the community and engage with the residents is impressive, keeps him informed and demonstrates to the community that he is available and not just a figurehead.
Best Polce Dept. Anywhere…