Lower Adds Two Police Officers; Readies for Drug Prevention Meeting

VILLAS – Lower Township Council met Jan. 20 to add new officers to the war on crime, and to create new treatment and preventive options to prevent youths from winding up on the wrong side of that war.
Two Officers Sworn
Cape May County Police Academy Basic Course for Police Officers Class 39 produced two new full-time officers who will join the ranks of Lower Township Police Department.
The 22-week residential academy course will be followed by at least four months of field training with a designated Lower Township Police Field Training Officer (FTO). 
Patrolman Kyle Boyle Badge 203, 24, is a graduate of Lower Cape May Regional High School Class of 2009. Prior to being hired as a full-time police officer, Boyle served as a senior corrections officer with Bayside State Prison from 2013 until 2015.
Patrolman Adam Hegarty Badge 204, 29, is also a graduate of Lower Cape May Regional High School Class of 2004.  Prior to being hired as a full-time police officer, Hegarty served as a Class II Officer with Cape May City Police Department from 2009-2011. 
Hegarty also worked as a Class II Officer with Lower Township Police Department from 2011 until being hired full-time in 2015.
Prevention and Treatment
The White House Office of Drug Control Policy recently awarded a $625,000 grant to Lower Township and Cape Assist that targets prevention of substance abuse among young people in the community. The grant money will provide five years of funding for the Lower Township Healthy Youth Coalition that is coordinated by Stephen Selby of Cape Assist.
The coalition will enlist social, religious and community leaders and township resources to develop programs that focus on all forms of substance abuse from alcohol, to pills, to heroin.
The first meeting of the coalition will be held at Lower Township Hall Feb. 3 beginning at 7 p.m. Mayor Michael Beck strongly encouraged all residents and especially parents to attend this meeting to learn more about what can be done in Lower Township to reduce the effects of addictive behavior by youth of the township.
Update on Bayshore Council
Deputy Mayor Norris Clark provided an update on the Delaware Bayshore Council that was created last year to unify all Delaware Bay communities, state and federal government agencies, aquaculture businesses and environmental groups who have a stake in protecting the bay beaches and ensuring that economic opportunities are explored while protecting the environment of this sensitive eco-system.
Clark sees a direct correlation between the Bayshore Council’s activities and the beach access issue that has recently become prominent in all coastal communities, including both ocean and bay shorelines.
Clark urges everyone in the township to attend the Feb. 1 meeting to be held at the Lower Township Hall beginning at 7 p.m. to hear the engineering proposal for Lower Township beach access improvements from engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald.
Clark stated that discussion of this proposal will be extended into the summer so that property owners who are not full-time will have an opportunity to learn and comment on this proposal.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.