North Brunswick, NJ cops ‘borrow’ cruisers after own fleet floods
If you call North Brunswick police for help and an officer arrives in a vehicle from East Brunswick or South Amboy, don't worry.
Eleven departments lent their vehicles to North Brunswick after 30 of the township's own cars were damaged by the heavy rain of Ida. They were parked in a lot in back of police headquarters on Hermann Road, where the rain accumulated too quickly for officers to safely move the vehicles.
"For the foreseeable future we will be operating a mix of North Brunswick PD and out-of-town police cars providing the same police services that our residents are used to while repairs/replacements are made," the department said on its Facebook page.
Chief Joseph Battaglia told NJ.com that the electronics in the vehicles were ruined by the water. The chip shortage that is making new cars hard to come by for consumers is also affecting the availability of law enforcement vehicles.
Middlesex County Police Chiefs Association president David Irizarry, the chief in Metuchen, helped facilitate borrowing the cars from other departments.
The departments that loaned North Brunswick vehicles are:
- East Brunswick
- Edison Township
- Metuchen
- Middlesex Borough
- Monroe Township (Middlesex)
- New Brunswick
- Perth Amboy
- Piscataway Township
- Sayreville
- South Amboy
- South River
- East Coast Emergency Lighting, Inc
A spokesman for North Brunswick police on Thursday morning did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for more information.
Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ