By Kathy Hennessy, The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- When a baby was snatched from a foster home in Newark last year, Patrolman Bill Carlo contacted the Navy to track down the missing mother who was living with her sailor boyfriend in Florida.
It’s the kind of work police officers with the state’s Human Services Department do every day. Last year, their work helped the Division of Youth and Family services locate 1,500 missing children.
“Our caseworkers often go into dangerous neighborhoods expecting the unexpected,” said Human Services Commissioner James Davy. “With the help of our Human Services police, they can knock on the door without fearing for their safety.”
In New Jersey, there are 40 officers who work at 13 Human Services police stations covering 22 DYFS offices across the state. The budget approved in June allows the state to spend $2.2 million to hire 30 more officers and create a new station in Cape May.
The hirings are part of the Gov. James E. McGreevey’s reform of the troubled child services agency. Lawmakers agreed to spend $660 million in the budget this year to completely overhaul an agency that faced fierce criticism after a series of horrific child abuse cases.
Davy said the officers are key to allowing caseworkers do their jobs.
“It’s not just police protection, it also involves making arrests or communicating with law enforcement throughout the country,” said Davy.
In the past year, Human Services officers have helped caseworkers 330 times when they needed an emergency removal of a child from a home, transported over 220 juveniles who were runaways and made 120 arrests of people who had outstanding warrants or engaged in illegal activity, according to state officials.