By Sgt. James Fehring #95

  This year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Little Egg Harbor Police Department being established as a full time department. Reaching this milestone of half a century of service to the citizens of Little Egg Harbor is a great honor, which has an interesting story behind it. During the 1960’s Little Egg Harbor Township was one of the fastest growing municipalities in New Jersey with the newly developed Mystic Islands and Atlantis sections of the township.

   As the population grew so did the need for more police officers. The township began to see an increase in burglaries and vandalism of the vacant summer homes in the Mystic Islands section. With the increase of crime the township began appointing part-time special police officers that had to be reappointed to the position yearly. On December 17th, 1973 a resolution was passed by the township council to formally establish the Little Egg Harbor Police Department as a full time agency. The department went officially into operation in 1974 and was led by Elkenny Pullen, the first Chief of Police.

    At first the department utilized donated cars from neighboring agencies for patrols and operated out of Chief Pullen’s home as a police station. Later the West Tuckerton Fire House on Route 9 was used for a police station. In 1975, a new township building was built at 7 Gifford Road and the police department moved into the basement until a new facility could be constructed. The police department operated out of this facility for almost 30 years.

   The population of the township continued to grow throughout the 80’s and 90’s and so did the size of the police department. In 2004, the township constructed the Administrative Justice Complex located at 665 Radio Road and the police department moved into its current location inside of the Justice Complex. Today the Little Egg Harbor Police Department has 44 sworn officers that serve a population of approximately 22,000 residents and patrols an area of 50 square miles. The department is an accredited agency that is always striving to provide the most professional service to the citizens and visitors of Little Egg Harbor Township. The men and women of the Little Egg Harbor Police Department are proud to carry on a tradition of professional, dedicated service that began 50 years ago.