Its not even summer yet. I cant imagine what gang related issues will arise when the weather gets warmer and we possibly have 30 less police. I pray we dont lose any police. This town already seems to be spiraling out of control.

Stop worrying about shortage of police, if they need help they call other towns in....relax and vote the increase down.

It just seems counter intuitive to lay off police in a town that seems to have an increase in gang issues. I watched the council meeting when they announced the findings of the audit. It said this town needed more police. In a few years we wont be able to tell Brick and Lakewood apart. Sure the police can call for help i suppose but other towns are not going to drive around our town and deter crimes from happening or investigate things that have already happened. I'm voting yes. I'm sure our taxes will rise anyway and will continue to rise but with less services and more crime. To me is makes no sense to vote no.

I agree with "79". We can't just sit back and watch out property value go down..down..down...Hello!!! Crime goes up....who the heck would want to move here...

I can't believe the changes in Brick over the past 10 years and the property values declining so much and not just because of the economy. Brick is going down the tubes and it worries me. That is why my daughter is going to private school and will be for the rest of her school years for as long as we live in Brick unfortunately.

I have lived in Brick since 1958, a lot of changes. Some good, and some big....Brick is a great township....private school is nice, but not affordable for everyone, the schools are very good....The economy is the reason for property values being down....

I live in the neighborhood this happened in, I have lived in Brick for 40 out my 41 years and it is getting bad here. I have seen this town go from a place where it wasn't unusual not to lock the front door at night as a kid to now making sure every window and door is locked tight! This is a nice neighborhood and the house it happened at is only about a year old and it's a big, beautiful home. This is not happening just in Sylvan Glade anymore (or whatever its called now), it's all over Brick and even Point. Just reading all the crime lately makes me want to fold it all up and get the hell out of here! Taxes are high, yes , but not as high as some towns. Taxes will never go down, it just doesn't happen. I would rather pay more taxes too and feel safe knowing that there are cops on force around here. I will vote YES. These gangs are taking over and and they have no fear of police and even less of them will cause more and more stuff like this to happen and worse. It's really a shame and something needs to be done, I wish I knew what that something was. And as far as calling other towns for help, forget it! they don't have enough man power to go around either!

stun guns, robberies, rape, assaults, stabbings, and shootings (and thats just the politicians lol).....def not safest city anymore! we need to get back to basics and get all this trash out of this town, start at evergreen or sylvan glade and work your way through Brick. Send the mutts back to asbury!!

Clamdigger has it right. we had a state trooper and a local cop live on our street also. There were still burglaries, out of control parties, a car theft, cars broken into and robbed, beer cans in the street near an empty lot every weekend, etc etc etc. I really don't think more police is the answer, you just can't catch these people in the act, especially at 4am in the morning!!!! thank you

I'd be willing to vote yes for the tax increase only if the taxes are spread evenly across the board for the police and garbage. Why should a waterfront homeowner pay more for these services? I'm tired of paying 4 times plus more than the average homeowner in Brick. FOR WHAT? If this question passes at the .13 rate that was kicked around at the last council meeting, my taxes will increase by 1,100! - I vote no unless others are willing to kick in their fair share and the tax burden shifts to become fair and even across the board. Don't be fooled by our Mayor thinking that our services will be cut off. Creative thinking will get us through this issue, not "more money".

Let's get back to the story...I work in one of the schools that kids from "this neighborhood" go to. I have seen a big change in the last 4-5 years. People need to wake up and stop walking around with their blinders on. If this population continues to increase we are all worse off. The administrators in my school take care of the problems these children create all day-from the time they step off the bus. We do the best to teach these kids morals...respect...manners etc. When they go home...everything we do goes out the door. Their cousins, aunts, uncles, and everyone else they know are moving here! It WILL effect Herbertsville property values first and then have a rippling effect!!! We need to do something, although I don't know what it is:(

79, my family has been here since 1941 and i was a teenager when the state police were still here. Certainly you're not telling ME anything that i didn't know long ago. Many home in toms river and surrounding communities are of comparable sales price due to the current real estate slump. do your homework pal and wake up. More money for a certain dept. will only mean more donut breaks and more of them sleeping at night at a certain soccer complex. Apparently you don't get that. There's toooo much waste in brick government and it has to be pruned back to save the town. The old saying goes " you have to prune the bush back before it dies altogether" with all due respect. thank you

79 and d/h need to hack this out somewhere else...not here. You aren't even responding to the original story any more. HELLO!!!

Steve and his circus of arrogant self serving greed mongers want to cut 30 police, vote NO, no one will lose their jobs except steve, juan, and dave. The Mayor and his friends and family club have really let down the taxpayers, our decent from one of Americas safest cities to where we are know is disgusting, hope you guys are proud of what you've accomplished (or lack of) during your time in power. Now they are blackmailing the taxpayers with threats and bullying scare tactics, like the saying goes a leopard can't change it spots, those who knew these people for many years are not surprised by the bullying and threats. Its time to get people in charge whose best interests are for the citizens of Brick not the enhancement of their friends and family.

Wake up people, there will be no police layoffs. Even if there is, the shifts will be adjusted accordingly. Same amount at night when most of the crime is in effect and less during the day. So someone gets pulled over, instead of 2 cops at the scene, only one will handle the situation. Besides, during the holidays there was one less officer doing the normal duty, cause they had him sit at the light on Chambers Bridge by shoprite everyday in December to monitor traffic flow. Talk about a waste of money (I sat at the light and watched the traffic turning into the shopping center and blocking the intersection when it turned green and the cop just sat there and watched, hmmm could have made a few extra bucks for the town everyday, but noooo!!!!). Like others are saying, it is a scare tactic. I'm sure the police have there eyes on the area's that are the problem area's all the time.

Its amazing and at the same time scary how many experts are on here who claim to know the inner workings of everything from the budget, to garbage collection to how the police do things and why. They also know with such certainty that there will be no lay offs or loss of services. Well I'm no expert in any of those things and I'm not willing to take the risk and lose services and police only to end up paying more for less. I dont know how the police operate but I do know what Ive been seeing in the paper and cutting police seems ignorant. I dont care if the police only just started putting more in the paper now as some suggested. It doesnt change the fact that these things are happening which is probably why that report said Brick should have more police not less. And it also didnt say that they should stay the same. Will we lose garbage collection, police etc if this vote dont pass I have no reason to think we wont. Will private garbage cost us more, I have reason to believe it will. Do we need more police, I again have no reason to think we dont given what the report said and whats going on outside our doors. I wont vote no because it seems illogical to do so.

Why would you believe what guys say, they have repeatedly lied to the taxpayers, why would they be telling the truth now????

Released!!!! Why would these dirt bags be released????? Do they keep coming to Brick because they are released???????

No doubt they are repeat offenders...let's wait until they murder someone!!!

Real good, released on a summons. Like they were littering or jaywalking.

I can't believe the route this conversation has taken. Can someone tell me what the price tag for our safety and the safety of our children should be. Go ahead, someone put a dollar amount to what they are willing to pay for the security of their friends and loved ones.With all the wasteful spending in this town, I can't believe the mayor is seriously considering reducing the size of our police force and people here are willing to call his bluff. It's time to make a stand. Whether you are going to vote to pass this referendum or not, send the message loud and clear to our elected officials that laying off police officers in Brick is unacceptable and irresponsible. Find the money somewhere else. If you haven't noticed, the criminal element is here and growing stronger every year. The way to deal with this scum is to have an overwhelming police presence, so that every time one of these punks turns around, he's looking an officer in the face. Bust them for everything, from jaywalking on up. Show the degenerates that Brick will not tolerate their kind and they should go back to where they came from.

Dont Tred...well said I cant agree more

Maybe we need a new municipal court judge here who will set bail higher so that these suspects can't return to the street so easily. They're out in a few hours to continue with their mayhem.

Nothing like stabbing someone and being released the next day...We have a heck of a juducial system.

If six people were arrested, and we assume one officer is assigned to each person arrested, according to the Police Audit, it takes an average of 84 minutes for a Police Officer to finish their end of the processing and their paperwork. So if my logic is correct, for a span of about two hours, there were three (assuming nine Police Officer are working on shift) Police Officers available for the entire town - this is to say that no officer assisted another officer (for example, help with a transport, processing or paper work). However, the article does mention one of the suspects did assault two officers so I highly doubt there was a 1 on 1 contact with him.

This article mentions five Police Officers by name alone. Given the hostility and violence of this call, it has the potential for at least another two to assist in processing or watching the violent suspect. This is a total of seven Police Officers assigned to this call where six people were arrested and at least one was charged with Aggravated Assault. With that in mind, and assuming there were nine on patrol that evening, that left a total of two Police Officers for the entire town. I wonder what would have happened if there was another emergency at the same time as this fight.

clam your last comment is pretty ignorant. Yea the liberal media would love for cops just to shoot every one!!! Everyone hates cops until they need them. If the town people actually knew the true element of who and what is living and hiding out in this town..it would astound you.. i'd move tomorrow if I could sell my house. Its only a matter of time until Brick makes CNN or has its own Columbine

Stand up take a stand and vote NO!!!!

Clam..I completely agree with you about the media. And that the treatment of these scums should be harsher.. But NJ is a very liberal state.. so law enforcement is not allowed to use tazers... it takes years of appeals to get things like that approved. And dont forget we live in a time of videos and cell phones.. The media only shows those things when a cop might over step his boundaries. And if you read these comments alone on this site...people hate cops..so anything they do is scrutinized...

Brick Resident thank you for your analysis. I don't condone "cops eating doughnuts" in the derogatory manner it's been described here. However, there IS "down time" in the life of a fire fighter, EMT or police office. WHEN the emergency occurs, we need an immediate response, whether it's a person who's having a heart attack or an out of hand party that spills into a brawl. Those first responders don't know what they're heading into. We expect them to have cool heads and handle the emergency.

This is made all the more difficult when there isn't sufficient staffing. At the same time, we expect these "public servants' to take a pro-active role and investigate behind the scenes, in an effort to deal with the type of crime facing us in 2011.

My home and community are my most important investment. Part of it is financial; part of it is quality of life.

Disgusted....You sound like an idiot..with all due respect

I am sick and tired of hearing that criminals are being released over and over again for their crimes. KEEP THEM IN JAIL!!! These criminals and gang members are "TERRORISTS"!! Protect Brick residents by KEEPING THE CRIMINAL IN JAIL from arrest until trial and sentencing. Why is it that most criminals have a "RAP SHEET" that is longer than an arms length? Why are criminals allowed out of jail to become "REPEAT OFFENDERS"?? If Brick would STOP spending taxpayer money on all of the STUPID A** "SPEED HUMPS, BUMPS and TABLES" or whatever they are calling them now, and the asinine "TRAFFIC CIRCLES" in Lake Riviera and all of the ridiculous and unnecessary traffic lights and the stop spending our taxpayer money on the "BIG BROTHER" cameras on almost every traffic light, maybe we could spend the tax money on actually PROTECTING the citizens of Brick with an adequate Police Department. The police in Brick are good officers... we need more of them. We also need the laws to change so that citizens are protected and the criminals are prosecuted and thrown in jail. Stop the plea bargaining and get tough on crime.