LOWER TOWNSHIP – Several hundred township residents attended Police Chief Brian Marker’s open house at the high school here last Tuesday, Feb. 7.
“It was definitely enough people to call the event successful. There was a lot of information presented by our police department, as well as the prosecutor’s office, and people had a lot of questions about personal and home safety,” said Mayor Michael Beck, who attended the public meeting.
“On council, every one of us is pleased with Chief Marker’s leadership. He is committed to the building and enhancing the police-public partnership,” said Beck, a retired Philadelphia police lieutenant. “He knows that a police department’s success begins and ends with its relationship to the community it serves.”
Beck said that council members Thomas Conrad and Glenn Douglass also attended the meeting at the Lower Cape May Regional High School Performing Arts Center.
Marker, who has called himself “firmly committed to community policing,” hoped to present locals with a comprehensive program which included information on how to report crime, how to identify suspicious behavior and how to cooperate more fully with the police department.
He announced the meeting in a Jan. 26 letter to township officials. In addition to the lecture-style presentations in the auditorium, groups from various law enforcement and social service agencies set up information tables outside the auditorium. He said that he wanted “…people to be able to walk around and ask questions of agency representatives, meet officers, and interact more informally.”
Marker took over as chief last summer, following a July 6, 2011 ceremony at a council meeting. He was sworn in as a full-time officer in 1986, reaching the rank of sergeant in 1998. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2002 and captain in 2006.
In addition to serving with the county prosecutor’s drug interdiction unit, Marker was part of Lower’s Tactical Patrol Squad and Community Policing Units. He also helped develop Lower’s school resource officer program.
Since taking over the department, Marker has overseen the opening of a police substation at the recreation center in the Villas.
“(The recreation center substation) provides greater access to police and encourages more police-community interaction,” Marker said.
In 2011, Lower Township police responded to 32,707 general complaints and service calls, according to year end statistics released by the department, ultimately arresting 441 adults and 67 juveniles.
The department handled 110 assaults, eight robberies, and 404 domestic violence complaints. Of the 404 domestic violence cases, 73 involved assaults. There were nine documented assaults on police officers. Police handled 170 burglary complaints and 472 reported thefts.
The township saw its officers respond to 555 motor vehicle accidents. Department personnel made 3,749 motor vehicle stops and issued 246 traffic summons.
There were 57 arrests for driving under the influence and 47 possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
