Cinnaminson Exploring Possible Police Merger with Riverton

Although in an “embryo stage,” Cinnaminson officials are in talks with Riverton officials about potentially merging the two police departments.

Cinnaminson Committeewoman Kathy Fitzpatrick said “these talks have been nothing more than exploratory,” and that’s all the township is saying right now.

This isn’t the first time the township has been in talks with a neighboring town regarding shared services of police departments; a feasibility study on law enforcement shared services among , Riverton and Palmyra police departments was done a few years ago.

Findings of that report were published in February 2010.

According to the report, it was recommended that the three departments not merge because there was a lack of financial benefit, a lack of operational benefit and “unpredictable operational challenges.” 

Results of those findings can be found here.

The Cinnaminson Police Department has 23 full-time officers while Riverton has five full-timers and three part-time officers, known as "specials." Cinnaminson, a town of about 8 square miles in size, is home to about 15,000 people. Riverton has a population of about 2,700 and is less than a square mile in size. 

The extent of the talks includes the creation of an exploratory committee by Mayor Don Brauckmann. That committee is made up of Fitzpatrick and Committeeman John Rooney—both who deal with shared services, whatever they may be.

Cinnaminson's Public Safety Director Michael P. King is also part of this exploratory committee.

“We are always engaging in and exploring shared services talks with neighboring towns,” said Fitzpatrick, “and this is another example of Cinnaminson’s continued desire to work with other towns to explore options.”

On the Riverton side, Council President Suzanne Cairns Wells joins Committeemen William Corbi and Jeff Myers and Police Chief John Shaw as a public safety committee.

Wells said the two committees have met a couple times and had preliminary discussions.

"It's kind of pre-information gathering to find out if there's even anything there," she said.

Wells said some numbers were brought to the table but after the two committees looked at them, they needed more information.

"We collectively concluded we needed to go back and look at some more details before we could even say whether or not we wanted to go any further with it," she said.

Wells said more questions were raised and after the last meeting, Cinnaminson officials were going to try to get some answers to those questions. 

It's not yet known if there would be a cost-savings for Cinnaminson or Riverton.

There is no meeting set yet, Wells added.

"We'll meet again and see if it gives us any clearer direction and make some decisions based on that," she said.

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