It's distressing that if someone needs help, and goes to the police station, that no one is there after 5:30. additionally, the fact that 911 calls have to go to the county, and then BACK to the town leaves room for error and delay, not unlike playing "telephone" as a kid.

I am also a resident who lives in close proximity to the area where the incident occured. The helicopter flew over my home several times and searched my property with a search light. When I called I also received the same information that it was just a missing person and there was nothing to worry about. I concur with Foster-Clarke that while I am grateful for the excellent job our officers did handling the situation, I am also disappointed that residents in the area who called the police were not given proper information. Even if they were unable to disclose details, they should have told people to stay in their homes while the situation was being handled. What if the suicidal person with the gun happened to run through someone's yard and the homeowner came out and tried to help? This could have been potentially very dangerous. Our officers who were out there in the cornfield are heroes but those in charge of dispatch and handling the transfer of information need to seriously re-evaluate how they handle these type of situations in the future. Downplaying the seriousness of a situation to concerned citizens who call could put people in serious danger.

So, we don't have enough police in this town to have one do ''late shift'' in the headquarters ? I suggest we remove a patrol car from someone's private drive doing speed checks, and have that guy man the board !

The problem is not that I don't know who I am calling. I don't recall being given a number where I can receive an adequate response. The problem remains that I didn't receive proper communication; and to say it wasn't as bad as it seemed and was under control is hardly comforting when there is an armed individual in the property adjacent to mine. It was a dangerous situation which took 2 hours to resolve.

Long Valley has an absurd amount of Police officers - way too many... your telling me, we can't have 1 person man the phones after 5:30? Yet, they HAD to build that bunker on top of the mountain?? I love their priorities... typical.

I thought all police stations were manned 24/7. The advice to someone who is in danger on the road and being followed has always been not to drive home, but to drive to the nearest police station. That would be a real problem in Long Valley, since the police station is closed after 5:30pm.

Somehow the WTPD has the manpower to make dozens of arrests of people passing through town with small amounts of marijuana or some old bench warrant, but we don’t have the manpower to man a 9-11 line 24/7??? Then when we have an armed and dangerous man is lose in township, they screw it up and claim it’s just a missing person. If this doesn’t show the “police are never wrong” people that we need serious reform in the WTPD, I don’t know what will!

Now this makes sense unfortunately - I called 911 cause the helicopter was in my yard with a search light and when i called, at first they told me i called Hunterdon county and i wanted Morris County - i said, i called 911, i have no idea and then he transfered me which i thought was odd since it was 911....But when morris county got on, he clearly had no information on my a helicopter was there, he kept talking to someone else for answers - and he said the same thing - it was a missing person. I didn't like that, I felt i was out in no where land with no assistance. I have never had that feeling before calling 911.

The problem is going to a centralized dispatching communication system with the county. This system is flawed. This just proves what I already knew. My son and I were driving on Naughright going to WMCHS in June. I was one car in front and he was following in a different car. The lady behind him hit him. I called 911. I said we had an accident & I needed the WT police. I gave him the exact address. We were a few hundred yards before Bartley. The dispatcher argued. He told me I was in Mount Olive and I needed the MO Police. I assured him I lived here and know where I am. Once again, he argued and told me the address I gave him was in Mount Olive. I turned around, read the address across the street and gave him that in addition to a third address. He continued to tell me I did not know where I was and he was sending the Mount Olive police. I was furious and argued back. He just became tolerant and said he will send someone. We hung up. Fourty five minutes later – no polce. I do not blame our police because they never got the initial call. Multiple other phones calls from friends who passed us and stopped to help might have done the trick because finally the WT police arrived. My point is that our “new dispatch system” to save money is flawed. In an emergency, we need help. Whether it be an accident,medical or a man with a shotgun near residential homes I am very concerned of what the trade off has been. We need our committeemen to review the system and make changes.

Where were all of these people when the cost of the dispatch center was being debated? Most of the residents don't realize that WT Police ran a centralized dispatch of thier own for quite some time as a revenue source. It has since been gutted and left empty in a mistaken attempt to save money. It was a poor choice then, and it shows now.

Another issue : When you call 911 from a cell phone your location will be determined by triangulation with cell towers. The dispatchers can't always know where you are, it's a flaw with cell phones. Calling from a physical land line will always give more ccurate data.

Oh, and I think having a lot of police in town is a fine idea.

The police risk their lives and do their job. Even a person above commented how a resident could have been shot by this guy and these brave officers, knowing this as well, walked right in to the teeth of the situation. And still we have people, after supposedly reading the article and being told that a centralized dispatched, manned by people who have never been to LV, blaming the officers who responded. If you don't like the police that is fine, just say so, however, criticism is justified when someone makes a mistake. The PD did not screw up, your county dis[patch did. Criticize them and not our officers, shame on you riffian metal and hookerman, however, hookerman never misses a chance to get a dig on those who perform a task he himself is too scared to do.

To all that have a concern with this issue: Show up at a Washington Township Committee Meeting and voice your concerns. Writing on The Patch is not going to solve anything. The next township meeting is September 17, 2012 at town hall 7:30pm

Sometimes the full ramifications of policy change are not immediately clear, until events unfold that point out flaws in that system. Now that we've experienced a few such events, my hope is that the problem solving will begin. I hope to be able to attend the next twp committee meeting.

Being married to a police officer I am probably too close to comment, but am being driven by the need to vent/respond to the ignorance of people like 'Hookerman'. He should spend more time learning the facts and less time spouting off about what a poor job our police dept. does. Whose idea do you think it was that they did away with dispatch in town? The WTPD? No, taxpayers and town officials looking to cut the budget - the PD is always on the hot seat. Maybe the nay-sayers should consider a career change ~ get a criminal justice degree, go through the all of channels of actually getting on a dept, and then get to have the pleasure of going to work and putting on a bullet proof vest and carrying a gun . Then respond to every call received, not ever really knowing what you are walking into (shotgun in a cornfield, anyone?? I believe there is ZERO visibility in a fully grown cornfield??...). Then you can sit back and just wait for the criticism that will inevitably flow about what you did wrong or what SHOULD have been done (because the public always knows better). While it is very easy to sit back and comment on the articles posted about traffic stops, there is so much more to the job than what you read. Wow...this is why I always refrain from commenting...too personal... However, thank you to those that feel that our dept does a good job, and that the men and women that put on those uniforms whether in a small town or big city are worthy of our respect.

The helicopter was right in my backyard and I am the one with 2 small children and my husband was away. I called dispatch and they said there was a missing person, nothing to worry about and hung up on me. So I do wish I was given the correct information so at least I could have more readily assessed the safety of my home.

Ah the hysteria of not knowing what is going and thinking YOU could be the victim of a violent shooting...what a self indulging fear. I once stopped by the Fort Knox on the hill Police Station and they treated me like I was the Taliban attempting to gain entry for attack. If you moved the central dispatch to India it wouldn't make a difference and would be cheaper too.....The Police would get more support if they understood that Public Service doesn't mean Public Serves Us.

Have a Voice is absolutely correct. The decision to move to the county dispatch system was made by your township committee and not by the WTPD. If you have a gripe or are aware of some of the shortcomings of the system, your need to show up at a Township Committee Meeting, voice your concerns and hold them accountable. This will hopefully spur them on to sit with the county, address these problems and report back to the public. They should also explain how they plan to handle reverse 911 issues in the future. Fortunately the WTPD were able to effectively diffuse this situation. They may not be so fortunate in the future. A neighborhood needs to be warned when there is an ongoing crisis, such as a gunman in their midst. It is up to the Mayor and Committee to figure out how to do this. The buck stops with them.

at this point, whether it was one person's fault or another's, the main issue is that telling people it was a missing person was a horrible mistake; they may have tried to help find the person, and this could have ended terribly. and the above comment about the accident on bartley is BAD. what if someone had been hurt or having a heart attack???? no help in 45 minutes????

I do no think police have to share any information with the public if it is an ongoing investigation.

I went off on my own little tangent earlier as it is frustrating to listen to and read the assaults on the police dept. As many readers have pointed out, it is ultimately the communication that people are concerned with. The police did a terrific job with the information they were being given. As we chatter in hindsight, I'm sure that the officials and powers that be were already poring over the minutia of the incident before the evening was over. If nothing else I'm sure that we can expect better communication and how information is dispersed to the public.....on a need to know basis.

It is a surprise to me to learn that the police station is closed and unoccupied on weekends, or at least part of the weekend. I am sure however that police are on duty and patrol. That time aside, IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH YOUR RESPONSE FROM THE COUNTY 9ll team, there is always the tried and true method of calling the police directly, just like we used to do. 908-876-3232 is a number I learned by heart within a month of moving here. I have never been disappointed by the response of our own police whether calling about a rabid raccoon, a lost dog in the middle of Schooley's Mountain Road, etc. The number is also loaded in my cell phone.

Hattori, that is something I will check on. It has always been the "non-emergency" number and makes no sense to have it go and clog the county system. It is something we should know if all calls go to the county.

Eileen, I believe Hattori is right after hours.

(Side note, awesome user name, Hattori. ;) )

I am a resident in the area where this occurred, and the helicopter was over my home as well. I agree that the cops don't have to share details of an ongoing investigation, but I do think that one takeaway from this situation is that perhaps residents should have been warned to stay inside and lock their doors. Everything turned out fine, thankfully. But had this guy gone nuts and shots were fired into a home with sleeping children, the whole town would be going nuts (for good reason).

I fully support our cops and know this is not their fault. I would support getting 24/7 coverage, at least by one person, in the police station to cover for emergency situations. Or perhaps someone could be on call to come in and man the phones when there is an emergency. Worth discussing.

Is it possible the initial call to dispatch indicated a "missing person"? Maybe that's all dispatch knew at that point. If the man is in a corn field surrounded by every cop on duty and a helicopter overhead ... is he a danger to the public?

I live in the area as well. I understand that people wish they were better informed, but why on earth when there are helicopters circling and police activity would anyone want to go outside to check it out? Stay inside, don't panic, use common sense and let the police do their job.

Haha~I think it must be a guy thing Resident, you'd have to ask my husband (I WAS inside telling him to get in until we knew something or it was resolved).

Hi Lisa, that comment wasn't directed at you but to everyone who was talking about going outside to see what was going on or leaving the house in general.

(My husband would do the same thing ;-) )

While this was going on my family did stay inside, lock the doors and kept alert until the helicoper finally flew away. I agree that it was clear that when you see something like this going on, using common sense about your safety is important. I still feel that the dispatcher should have told residents who called to stay indoors and not make them feel like it was just a missing person and that it was no big deal. I realize that they cannot always give out details for a variety of reasons but informing people to stay indoors would have been appropriate in this situation.

I wonder why everyone was outside and cars were pulled over all over the sides of the road if people were so alarmed. I happen to be driving through that area to drop off a friend and it looked like a parade was about to come through.

You all need to attend the next Township meeting and bring back the dispatchers to washington Township

Please do come to the September 17 Township Committee meeting and voice your concerns about this incident. The Mayor, Police Commissioner and Police Chief will be working on what happened, what worked, what didn't work (resident notification) and changes that can be made in cooperation with the County. I am sure that the Mayor will be happy to discuss this with the residents. Re the Dispatch Center, it was moved to the County after our town lost the shared services revenue from Mendham Twp., Chester Twp., and Chester Boro. Our town could not continue to fund the Dispatch Center (Salaries, benefits, communications equipment & services, computer hardware/software/maintenance) solely from town taxes and staying within the 2% Cap. The decision to close down Local Dispatch and move to the centralized County Dispatch system has been made by roughly 2/3 of the 39 municipalities in Morris County. Hunterdon and Warren Counties also operate County Dispatch systems. A customized system for a specific municipality will often have features that a "generic" sytem cannot match, but that comes at a cost that W.T. cannot afford. The Committee has to work with the County to resolve problem areas and arrive at a set of procedures that will keep PD, Emergency Services volunteers and residents informed and safe. Not a simple requirement but certainly one that has to be met. I am sure that I can count on several regular "bloggers" to disagree with me. See you in Sept. if not before.

Tracy - That is nothing but political rhetoric. The fact of the matter is the move to outsource our dispatching has not saved the town a dime. It displaced loyal & dependable employees who CARED about WT - who KNEW WT - who had knowledge of the developments and the troubled areas, which made our police response that much more effective. Maybe 2/3 of the municipalities have gone to the County Dispatch, but that does not mean it works for OUR township. Have a conversation with ANY of our officers and they will give you a LIST of potentially bad situations they were put in as a result of the sub-par quality of communication afforded by the new system. For example : getting dispatched to wrong addresses, getting dispatched to calls that are described as something completely different than the call they actually arrive at & being dispatched to calls that are not EVEN HAPPENING IN WT !! Put yourself in the officers' shoes the next time you all count your pennies at the next meeting ( where you will ignore the public anyway - thats why there is no attendance ).

I love how that is the standard answer, go to the next meeting, go to the next meeting. I attended a meeting one time about the building of low income housing on East Ave and the town council would not let anyone speak unless they wanted to ask a question or make a comment about what the housing would look like. The decision had already been made by the town, despite outspoken opposition. People came there with legitimate arguments and concerns and were told they could not address them. Finally, when the aesthetics portion of the meeting was over and attendees thought they were going to get a chance to air their concerns about low income housing and all the great people and things it brings, however this was not the case. And the best part, at the beginning of the meeting, then Committeeman Popper and Ken Short, got up and excused themselves so no WT or Mt. Olive residents could ask them any direct questions.

Seems it's all been said and heard, and while the follow-up continues, let's all pause and celebrate our community at the fireworks festival tonight!