Council awards contract for police renovations Plans call for a $472,000 project to upgrade police dispatch BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer OCEAN TOWNSHIP- The police department is expected to undergo a series of major renovations next month that will bring the nearly 20-year-old police communications area of the building up to date. Plans call for a complete overhaul of the dispatch and communications system and room in the police building headquarters on Monmouth Road. The $472,000 project will also include the purchase of state-of-the-art communications equipment, according to Ocean Township Manager Andrew Brannen. "With this redesign, we will become a real 911 center," said Ocean Township Police Lt. Michael Resetar, explaining that the current equipment was last upgraded in 1989. Under the current system, 911 calls to the Ocean Township Police Department are first sent to the Monmouth County Communications Center before they are rerouted to the police department's dispatch room. The current system costs the township approximately $20,000 annually, according to Resetar. Resetar further explained that the purchase of new equipment will allow residents to reach the department directly, eliminating the need for calls to be rerouted through the county's system. "[With the renovations], if someone calls 911 in Ocean, they will get someone with the Ocean Township Police Department immediately," Resetar said. "It's a long time coming and we desperately need it. "Our equipment repair people are telling us that they don't make parts for the equipment anymore and the problems we experience are getting more and more frequent by the week with the current stuff," he said. Council voted unanimously 4-0 at the April 1 municipal meeting to award a contract to the Metuchen-based Tri-Form Construction Inc. to construct the project. The project is expected to start next month and plans call for it to be completed in November, according to Resetar. Brannen said the project is vital to the police department. He explained that because the current equipment is old and outdated, the system is prone to malfunctioning. "There have been some minor issues and that's really the concern," Brannen said, explaining that the township would like to finish the project before any significant problems occur. "When you're running a police communications facility, you need reliability," Brannen said. "I think, as an officer out on the road, the last thing you want to do is lose communication with dispatch, so from [the police department's] angle, it's a real positive," Brannen said.