State police reach out to residents
Barracks hopes to link with Millstone
Township Web site
By linda denicola
Staff Writer

State police are hoping that an increase in manpower, a new commander and reorganization at the Hightstown barracks will allay the fears of panhandle area residents who have been concerned about a rash of burglaries over the past eight months.

Many of the crimes involved automobiles and homes under construction, but a significant number involved residential break-ins during the day when the homes were unoccupied.

According to Trooper Gregg Herbert, there has been a slight decrease in the number of burglaries over the past couple of months, but they haven’t caught any of the burglars yet. He added that they have been getting more calls from residents about suspicious vehicles since the burglaries were reported in the Millstone newsletter and the press.

He explained that Troop C Hightstown Station is overstaffed right now, but that is necessary because they also have statewide responsibilities for protection against terrorism. Additional troopers have been assigned to the Hightstown station with the recent graduation of the 119th through the 128th state police classes. Currently there are 51 sworn personnel working at the station. This includes four squads with 11 troopers each, three station detectives, two community policing troopers, of which Herbert is one, a station commander and an assistant.

Herbert added that a functional reorganization has put patrol supervisors on the road to assist and supervise troopers more effectively.

The new commander, Lt. Anne-Marie Grant, assumed command of the Hightstown station in August, succeeding Lt. Dave Arthurs who has become the Troop C operations officer, but the events of Sept. 11 stretched the resources of the state police, who were forced to reassign troopers to northern New Jersey.

Grant is a graduate of the 96th state police class and has served in a variety of positions including Troops A and C, the Intelligence Services Section and the Narcotics and Organized Crime Bureau. Her most recent assignment was as the supervisor of the state police K-9 Unit, where she is recognized as an expert in the handling and training of police dogs.

The state police also hope to have a link to the Hightstown station from the Millstone Township Web page in the near future.

Committeeman John Pfefferkorn, who is the Web page liaison, said he had not heard from the state police yet and did not know what kind of link they wanted.

"If they just want a link to the state police Web site from our site, that can be done very quickly, but if they want information within our Web site, I would have to look at the content. Either way, we’ll work with them," he said.

"We’re waiting for the capability to set the link up. That’s one of Lt. Grant’s goals for this year. It would link to an e-mail address at the station," Herbert said.

Pfefferkorn, who took over as Web page liaison when he joined the Township Committee, said the Millstone Web site was in bad shape. "I spent a lot of time, maybe 40 hours, just going through the Web site identifying problems. The Web master has made a number of changes already. We had to recreate some of the old linkages and history. I spoke to a lot of people who had linkages in there that were so outdated. It’s stabilized now," he said.

Pfefferkorn said he and the Web master, a high school student, are working well together. The format is basically the same, but there are some new headings and new content.

The state police are still advising residents to keep watch for suspicious vehicles and persons, and to call (609) 448-0073 to report any unusual activity. Any residents interested in forming a community-based Neighborhood Watch group, should contact Trooper Herbert at (609) 448-0074.

Herbert said new area residents think they are moving to the country and don’t need to take precautions. "I want people to use a little common sense and lock their doors, bring in things that are valuable, leave some lights on when not at home, and have neighbors or the state police check on their home if they are away on vacation," he said.