In 1939, the main thoroughfare to the Jersey shore was rerouted to bypass Main Street in South Amboy. That change would be part of a series of alterations that would transform South Amboy and the police force over the next twenty years. The police department was influenced by a number of events, including World War II, the 1950 explosion, and politics. The Police Department also faced internal challenges that would see a Sergeant and a Chief leave office. South Amboy, like the nation, faced some of its most difficult days.
The Chief of Police maintained his role as chief executive of the department. In the 1940's the command structure included the Chief, a Captain, and a Lieutenant. They directed eight officers. By the late 1950's, with the involvement of politics, the command structure involved the Chief, three Captains, and three Sergeants, to oversee eleven Patrolmen.
The Mayor was given more direct control into the operations aspect of the department during the 1940's and 1950's. The Common Council had a police committee that handled the financial aspect of the department, but the Mayor's ultimate authority over the department was illustrated in the rules and regulations.
The police department's main mission was the prevention of crime according to the rules and regulations manual of 1944. The officers were also charged with monitoring hack cabs, documenting roads needing repair, making note of snow on sidewalks, reporting streetlights that were out, insuring care of any abandoned farm animals, investigating beggers, afford any homeless shelter at City Hall, and recording dog licenses.
The police department was the only twenty-four hour operation, and was taking on a broad range of social responsibilities not directly related to the prevention of crime. In 1947, Chief Quinlan seeing the difficulty asked for change. Chief Quinlan asked that the Common Council create a new position of dog warden to take on those responsibilities. In addition to the dog warden, the police no longer were connected to monitoring elections.
TECHNOLOGY
In the early 1940's, the department had one patrol car that had a one way police radio. The way it would work is someone would call police headquarters in an emergency. The desk sergeant would copy the information down, then place a phone call to the central dispatch in Freehold. The sergeant would relay all the information and have the Freehold dispatcher call the police car. Since the police officer could not acknowledge receipt of the message, it was not always clear if the call was received. If too much time went by, the desk sergeant would have to call back Freehold and ask them to put out the message again.
In 1947, the South Amboy City Council purchased a two-way radio system for $2,020. The radio system allowed police headquarters to communicate with its one police car. Typically, one officer would stay in the police car and drop the other officers off at their posts. If the officer in the car received a call from headquarters, he would then go down on Broadway and try to find the officer walking that post. Once the two officers met up, they would head to the call.
On Friday evenings and during school crossing times, the officers would be out on crossing posts. If headquarters received an emergency call, they would sound an air horn so the officer knew he had a call. The officer would then go back to his police car, start it up, and radio headquarters. If a police officer went out for his dinner break, police headquarters would phone his home to let him know he had a call. Officers also were familiar with which residents on their beat had phones.
1950 EXPLOSION
On the evening of May 19, 1950, a load of munitions and dynamite being transferred from railroad cars to barges, bound for Pakistan, exploded. The waterfront explosion killed over 30 people and injured hundreds. The entire City of South Amboy was damaged. As a result of the disaster, Chief John Gleason committed to increasing the size of the civil defense police reserve system. Over the next decade the number of volunteers would double in the police reserves.
The civil defense police reserves encompassed volunteer citizens who assisted policing large events. These volunteers had uniforms and worked under the control of the shift commander. There is no accurate account of the total number of police reserves. In the mid 1950's, records showed as many as eighteen police reserves.
Just as in times before, the city's bars kept the police busy. In 1947, this one square mile city had 37 bars. The clergy association called upon the police and council to curtail the problems these establishments were causing. In 1950, 75% of the arrests made by the police department were for drunk and disorderly offenses, according to the arrest log.
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Research for this section provided courtesy of Jim Ryan
