Shore Towns Forced to Intensify Recruitment Efforts
COURT HOUSE – Nearly every town in Cape May County has a police force that uses Special Law Enforcement Officers, or SLEOs, particularly during the summer. Despite the use of the colloquial term “summer cop,” SLEOs are used year-round in some towns, just not in the same numbers.
Traditionally, shore towns will beef up or augment their police force by hiring SLEOs, which are designated Class I and Class II officers.
Class I officers have far less training than other officers and carry a radio, baton, and probably a ticket pad. Class Is are generally used for parking enforcement and directing traffic during events.
Class II officers, on the other hand, go through all the training a full-time police officer experiences, but in a much shorter time. Class IIs carry a firearm and have the authority of a full-time police officer, but, again, are generally hired seasonally, which might lead to them entering the full-time academy, known as the Basic Course for Police Officers.
Thomas DePaul is the director of the Cape May County Police Academy, which runs courses for Class II officers that provides over 460 hours of training as required by the New Jersey Police Training Commission (PTC).
The Cape May County academy runs two courses during the year, including one in the winter; however, the “accelerated summer training” runs for eight weeks in May and June, with the plan to get enough Class IIs trained by July 4.
Class II candidates attend training Monday through Saturday, from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with a couple seven-day weeks thrown in. Upon graduation, students will be PTC certified as a Class II SLEO. When DePaul went through Class II training, it lasted two weeks.
DePaul said the winter sessions have been on par with what they expected.
“The larger one is in May and that has been down about 20% to 25%,” DePaul said.
DePaul said the numbers, however, vary from community to community.
“Ocean City numbers are solid. Some of the Wildwoods had more of a difficult time,” he said.
Doug Bergen, Ocean City public information officer, said the Ocean City Police Department currently has 65 seasonal officers working in the town.
“That’s a full contingent and a small increase over the level of previous years,” Bergen said, adding that he did not know how many applications they received.
The Wildwood Police Department received just 22 applications, Commissioner Steve Mikulski said. The department previously reported that applications were down significantly from prior years. Mikulski said, Aug. 9, there were 17 Class II officers working in Wildwood.
North Wildwood Police Chief John Stevenson said his department hired 19 Class II officers this season, but did not hire its full contingent. He said the number of applications the police department receives has not been consistent.
“We have been attending job fairs and recruitment events all over the state,” Stevenson said.
Wildwood Crest Police Chief Robert Lloyd said seasonal hiring has been extremely challenging over the past several years.
“The number of applications being submitted has decreased every year since 2020,” Lloyd said.
As a result, the Wildwood Crest Police Department had to nearly quadruple its recruitment efforts just to get officers in the door. The department planned to hire seven Class IIs in the summer of 2023 and had to settle for six. Lloyd said luckily all six of the Crest’s hires made it through the police academy. The municipalities hire applicants before they attend the academy and then pay their way with the expectation they will complete their training and graduate. There is no guarantee they will stay.
Lloyd said it’s difficult to compete with the hourly rates being offered in some municipalities for seasonal officers, and if they are successful in hiring Class II officers, there is always the possibility of losing them early due to college commitments or even to other agencies that might hire them as full-time officers.
“This can leave us with stressed staffing levels at the end of our summer season and during our shoulder season,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said that in some years, they could count on seasonal officers returning the next year, but this year, all his Class II officers were first-year officers and the same could happen in summer 2024. He said when this happens, it is taxing on supervisors, training officers, and other officers who spend much of their time teaching these new officers.
“I’m not sure what to expect in the coming years, but I can tell you that is very concerning to me,” Lloyd said.
West Wildwood Police Chief Jackie Ferentz said her department does not use Class II officers.
Sea Isle City hired 16 Class II officers for the summer of 2023, and 12 were still on duty, as of the writing of this article. Kathleen Custer, the public information officer for Sea Isle City, said the number of applications was down this year and the police department will be increasing its recruitment efforts for next year. The city also hired eight Class I officers for 2023.
In Avalon, Police Chief Jeffrey Christopher said the number of applications the borough received for seasonal officers in 2011 was 263. In 2012, the borough received 105, but the number rose to 237 in 2013 and 225 in 2014. In 2015, the department received 80 applications, and the number seemed to decline nearly every year, until there were only a dozen applications last year and just 10 in 2023.
Christopher noted that the number of officers hired fluctuates and changes throughout the summer for various reasons, but the number of applications the borough receives has “significantly diminished.”
“The Avalon Police Department is understaffed as compared to previous years,” Christopher said.
He said, by ordinance, he can hire 16 Class II and 16 Class I officers. He said he feels like he has a full contingent when he has about 14 Class II and at least six Class I officers, so the number of applications is not meeting the department’s needs.
In the neighboring Borough of Stone Harbor, Police Chief Thomas Schutta said his department typically hires 10 Class II officers each summer.
“This summer, we have two,” he said. “Without looking at specific numbers, I think it would be safe to say applications per year have been on a downward trend.”
Cape May Police Chief Dekon Fashaw’s department covers the City of Cape May, Borough of West Cape May, and Borough of Cape May Point. He said the city was able to hire more Class I and Class II officers this season – representing a larger number than in the last few years. For 2023, the Cape May Police Department was able to hire seven Class I and nine Class II officers.
DePaul said the SLEO II class that graduated before the summer season had 66 graduates, and the one before that had 36. He said that group is usually in the 40s, so 36 was not so unusual. He said that was 102 Class II officers between the two sessions, and, at times, they have trained 120 to 130 officers. He said most of them were hired by municipal police departments in Cape May County, with just a few going to Atlantic County. The majority of Class IIs go to the barrier island communities, with Middle and Lower townships taking a few.
DePaul said there are a lot of factors that reduce the number of applications. Part of it is applicants can now sit at home and apply to five or six departments on their phone or check out the department before applying. In addition, a state-mandated, five-component physical fitness (PT) test has probably reduced the number of applications. DePaul said it actually saves departments money on recruits who might not meet the physical fitness demands of the academy.
DePaul said the Cape May County Police Academy was doing the PT tests for a police department from an area north of Cape May County. He said that larger department was getting 800 applications per year. The last time around they had 400 applicants. The lower number of applications is causing departments to intensify their recruitment efforts.
DePaul mentioned one other factor that is working against police departments in Cape May County – the lack of rental housing, especially for the term of the eight-week course. The course for full-time officers runs twice a year, beginning the end of August and again at the end of January, and lasting about 22 weeks.
In summary, DePaul said the number of applicants to the Class II academy has clearly declined.
“Clearly, there is a difference. It’s definitely gone down. If there is a potential problem, housing plays a factor. They need a place to stay during the peak season,” DePaul said.
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
