More Officers Hired for Police Department

As part of its effort to address crime in Millburn and Short Hills, the Millburn Township Committee on Tuesday swore-in its third new officer in the last month.

Officer Keith Symanski is hired with experience, as he worked as a police officer in Old Bridge before he was laid off in budget cuts.

Officers Derrick Czupak and Roberto Delgado, Jr., were hired in March and also have police experience, saving Millburn money in training costs.

“It really helps us,” Chief Greg Weber has said.

Millburn had been down four officers, and Weber has previously said that he moved people around so that the openings did not affect the level of street patrol, just the higher rank positions.

Meanwhile, police have been dealing with a , car burglaries, home burglaries and a in addition to the more typical shoplifting and drug busts they work.

Weber reported Tuesday night at the Township Committee meeting that Millburn police and surrounding police have made a few arrests lately that have helped and commended his officers on the work they did to help a statewide task force dealing with an that resulted in 11 arrests Tuesday in Newark.

"I'm proud of the work our personnel did in this investigation," Weber said.

, like other communities, has to wait sometimes months for DNA testing and fingerprints to be matched by the state lab because of the number of cases the state deals with every day, Weber said.

“It has taught us patience and been frustrating at the same time,” Weber said.
He also said that criminals are getting younger so sometimes the fingerprint match doesn’t come up until the juvenile’s first arrest.

Millburn police are looking to put surveillance cameras around town and do nightly checks to learn where street lights are out.

“When we’re patrolling, we also find cars with interior lights on, garage doors open and cars that have been broken into because they were unlocked,” he said.

Weber is making the rounds to community groups to give them information on prevention tips, which include increased lighting, locking cars and not leaving the keys in them. The Newark car theft ring took the mostly cars with keys inside.