Plainsboro Township made official the promotion of four of its police officers to the rank of corporal. Officers Nick Procaccini, Fred Tavener, Jason Hanley, and Steve Stryker have had the duties and responsibilities of the higher-ranking position since January, 2005, and now they will have pay to match.
Two of the officers, Tavener and Hanley, were sworn in as corporals at the start of the township committee meeting on Wednesday, July 12. Procaccini and Stryker were off-duty at the time, and were sworn in earlier at a private ceremony in the clerk’s office.
“We created this position because we were frequently working without supervision on shifts,” said Captain Elizabeth Bondurant. “There are an increasing amount of regulations and requirements we must meet, so it was only prudent to make sure one person is in charge on every shift, and to always have a supervisor on duty.”
Bondurant said the police department had to wait for the township to approve the change before the promotion of the officers was made official. “They had the responsibility, the uniforms, and the authority, and now we can provide them with the pay.”
The department had some other technical changes approved by the Township Committee on Wednesday, July 12. When Cliff Maurer was brought in to head the department in January of 2005, the decision was made to appoint him public safety director rather than chief.
The department went through its rules and regulations and changed the verbiage to reflect the adjustment in the title. It was the first time since the force was created in 1979 that amendments were made to the department’s rules.
Bondurant said it was decided that it was time to update the codes, since changes in the world have made for changes in the operation of a police force. “We had to include changes due to technology. The rules address communication, but that has changed since the internet and E-mail. We changed some of the language to reflect the changes in the world.”
