Auxiliary Police Work: Dangerous, Thankless, Worth It

The Cranford Auxiliary Police force is made up of 17 civilian volunteers who work a dangerous and sometimes thankless job.

“We’re out there every Sunday doing church traffic, we’re there when the lines go down, the trees go down, we’re the ones guiding traffic, but we’re not the regular cops,” said Auxiliary Captain Ralph Gregson at a Citizens' Police Academy meeting on Wednesday. “We support the police department when they’re in need of manpower. Unfortunately we never know what we’re going to run into. We wear bulletproof vests because we look like regular cops. The bad guy’s not going to know that we’re not carrying guns.”

The auxiliary police are sworn officers who have the same powers of arrest as an officer who works full time.

Once certified, they have to work and train a minimum of eight hours per month in order to maintain their certification. Such training is conducted at the John H. Stamler Police Academy in Scotch Plains on evenings and weekends.

These officers run routine town patrol, traffic and crowd control, DWI checkpoints, and help during storms, floods and town public functions.

While they receive firearms training, auxiliary police are not permitted to carry guns. They can carry and wield PR-24 batons and pepper spray.

When they go out on patrol, however, they’re never sure what they’ll encounter.

“One time Newark put out an alarm for a homicide vehicle, a Hertz Truck. Now we’re sitting on a white Hertz truck and they were just tickled pink because there was blood in there,” said Gregson. “The guy from the prosecutor’s office comes down and he can’t believe that in two hours this murder was solved.”

While these officers often hear people tell them they’re crazy by reporting for a hazardous position that offers no pay, these officers find their efforts worthwhile.

“Many of us realize we don’t want to do it for a full time job but we enjoy helping out, giving back to the community,” said Auxiliary Officer Steven Pietrucha.

“It’s a great stepping stone into the community,” said Auxiliary Lt. James Nalepa. “You get to know the residents, the store owners. We all come to this organization with a different background and we do learn from each other.”

“We helped solve a murder case,” said Gregson. “Do we get recognition for that? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, but I know in my heart we did a good job.”

Cranford residents over the age of 18 can apply to join the auxiliary police force by filling out this application. Non-Cranford residents can apply for the force if they live within five miles of Cranford and there is no similar organization in the resident's town.