WEST WILDWOOD – The police force has lost another officer, leaving the beleaguered department with three officers and a sergeant, Commissioner Jane DiMattia said at a commissioner workshop session June 19.

DiMattia said the borough is continuing to work with the county Prosecutor’s Office and neighboring municipalities on police coverage. Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland had asked nearby towns to help provide police services to the borough.

“We continue to work on some short-term and long-term solutions,” DiMattia said.

The department is currently being overseen by a detective from the Prosecutor’s Office. Police Chief Jackie Ferentz is on leave pending her retirement.

The resident who prompted DiMattia’s statement about the officer who resigned also asked what the borough was paying for the supplemental police services provided at the request of the prosecutor. Borough Solicitor Matthew Lyons said the borough is currently not paying anything for that service.

The Police Department was the main subject of a June 6 meeting that drew such a large crowd the meeting had to be moved across the street to Neptune Street Park. A number of residents have said, primarily on social media, that they would like to keep their own police department, for various reasons.

At the Neptune Park meeting, the administration advised the public that recruiting and retaining police officers has been a losing battle over the years. DiMattia told the crowd on June 6 that the borough lost 24 officers over the course of four and a half years. Two officers who were in the academy and expected to work in 2025 quit before working a day.

The borough commissioned a study from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police to assess the viability of the Police Department and make recommendations.

The association’s report, which is available on the borough’s website, listed four options, but recommended disbanding the Police Department and entering into a shared services agreement with a neighboring community. A shared services pact is an ongoing agreement for police services, not simply for support in the event services are needed.

Lyons echoed DiMattia’s comment that the borough is working on short- and long-term solutions. He said the borough has reached out to the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, which represents borough police officers, to keep them abreast of what is happening. The union said in a statement before the June 6 meeting that it wants to make sure the officers are employed.

At the June 19 meeting, the commissioners said they were trying to get rid of three police vehicles, which Commissioner Joe Segrest said had rusted-out frames. The Chiefs Association report said that the police building was also in need of repairs.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at [email protected] or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.