The Haddonfield Police Department has begun operations at its new headquarters, a $5.6-million project in the works for the last six years.
Police Chief Jason Cutler – who’s been in the department since 1995 – acknowledged how the former Bank of America building on Walnut Street has lifted morale, including his.
“It’s all sunshine,” he said. “I’m like a kid in a candy store. I enjoy coming to work. Everybody does. … Now it’s probably our home for another 100 years.”
The police department was formed in 1913 and based in the municipal building basement, which got a renovation in 1982. That space had a square footage of about 2,100 feet, while the new building is almost 7,000, with room to spare. It also boasts a sally port; locker rooms for men and women; three jail cells, including one that’s handicap accessible; a gym; and new up-to-date cameras.
About 300 people took a tour of the new building on April 18. One of them was Bill Malony.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “I feel good for the police officers. I know where they’ve been … (This will) just make their job a lot easier.”
Det. Sgt. Jose Ortiz is happy the new building has windows, something the department’s basement quarters lacked. The evidence room in that space had a refrigerator that had stopped working, and when Ortiz brought it to the new building, he discovered black mold had destroyed everything inside.
The new evidence room is about five times as large – with a new fridge.
Other issues in the old police space included mold, roaches and burst pipes, with space tight for the department’s 23 officers. Cutler said that when kids toured there, their chaperones were aghast.
“We gave tours, like fourth-graders used to come in, the Brownies, the Cub Scouts,” he recounted. “They … thought it was great. But the chaperones were like, ‘I can’t believe you guys are working in this. Like I pay $12,000 in taxes, $20,000 in taxes for this?’
“So that actually got the public behind it (the new station). And I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, that the elected officials said we really need to do something.”
The biggest advocate for the new facility – who pressed for the state aid that funded the project – was former mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich, whom Cutler first met in 2019. All she needed was one tour of the basement headquarters to decide the force needed a new space.
“After lunch, we came over (and) she goes, ‘I cannot believe this,'” Cutler recalled. “I cannot believe what you guys are working with. She had been my biggest political advocate after, seeing what we’re working in and seeing that the health and safety of the officers were in peril, so to speak, that she really became our biggest advocate for our new building.
“I had the dream, she had the power to do it. And we melded together, and this is the fruits of our labor.”
The police department had been out of compliance with some regulations at the old station, a situation that required decades of waivers. It was particularly annoying, Cutler recounted, to the police inspector who came in every three years and hinted the waivers might stop without improvement.
“She’s like, ‘I’ve been coming here for 20 years and you haven’t done anything,'” Cutler remembered. “I get that you can’t do this, you can’t do that, but at least make an effort.”
Once work began on the new building, the department was able to get more exemptions. It now meets all current regulations, including on the toilets.
A camera used for cells in the old station needed to cover the toilet area, but because it couldn’t be done without new technology, police had to put a piece of tape over the camera in the area that pointed to the toilet. At the new location, the cameras have two-way communication and can digitally cover the toilet area of each cell.
The project came in under budget, so the department used some of the state funds on furniture. Cutler also bought new TVs on Black Friday last year and desks from Amazon, including his own, which he put together himself. Police staff installed ceiling fans themselves to save money.
” … Where we could save money, we saved money,” Cutler said. “We bought off brand.”
According to the chief, the force initially sought to house its station in a segment of the borough post office, but the plan fell through after four years when, right before COVID, the department learned the federal property prohibited guns.
Kate Lafferty, Cutler’s administrative assistant, saw in 2022 that the old Bank of America building was for sale, and Cutler jumped at the opportunity a year later to purchase it.
Police Chief Jason Cutler sits behind a new desk he purchased from Amazon and put together himself. He said he now enjoys coming to work.
