COURT HOUSE – On the same night that Middle Township promoted Jen DeLanzo as thetownship’s first female acting captain, the municipality authorized participation in an amended alternative route hiring path for new officers.
Saying it was time for a new generation of leadership in the department, Police Chief Christopher Leusner celebrated the promotion of DeLanzo and new Lieutenant Bryan Murphy as examples of the change.
“You are going to see a lot of change as older officers retire,” Leusner said, adding that the department has highly qualified people in the ranks ready to step up.
Hiring has been an issue in police departments across the county and beyond. The township has a civil service police department, but Leusner explained that the state has not offered the test regularly enough to provide updated lists for hiring.
An alternative route program was initiated by the legislature in 2021 and used heavily by the department, but changes to the program in July limited the ability of a police department to hire from other departments. “Some towns were just losing too many officers,” Leusner said.
The program does still allow an individual to put himself or herself through the police training academy. Once graduated they can become viable candidates for hiring. The program now also allows a department to hire a temporary police officer who then has 9 months to complete the training academy.
At the the same Aug. 15 meeting that saw the promotions, the governing body approved the hire of Kenzee Delgado as a temporary officer.
