Ask Your Freeholders: Police Academy

Got a problem and need an answer from Camden County government? We’ve got your solution. 

Ask Your Freeholder is a weekly feature from Haddonfield Patch in which you get to ask questions and get them answered here every week by the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Camden County—the county's highest body of elected officials.

Just send your questions to bill.duhart@patch.com or ask it in our comment box below the story and we’ll take the first three every week and get one of the seven freeholders to personally answer your question for this column.

Here's this week's question

Question from Gloucester Township: How do Camden County Freeholders plan to try to keep open the Camden County Police Academy, located in Blackwood, if the county prosecutor's office budget is to be reduced to $2 million?

Answer from Deputy Freeholder Director Ed McDonnell: "In an effort to keep the Police Academy, talks between the Prosecutor’s Office and Camden County College are ongoing and center around looking for ways the college and prosecutor can reduce and then share costs.  Both the college and the prosecutor believe the academy is an important asset to Camden county, providing important opportunities to young men and women interested in public safety careers. Many academy graduates go on to earn associate degrees in criminal justice right on the college campus. In addition, the academy annually provides hundreds of hours of vital in-service training to police officers from every community in Camden county. For all these reasons, the prosecutor and Camden County College President Ray Yannuzzi are working together to maintain the academy.”