Galloway Police Promote One to Sergeant, One to Corporal

The Galloway Township Police Department will restore one sergeant and one corporal after five ranking officers left the department on Jan. 1, Police Chief Patrick Moran announced Tuesday night, Jan. 22.

Chris McGinty was promoted to the position of corporal and Mark D’Esposito was promoted to sergeant. According to Moran, the ability to go through with the promotions was made possible by over $ 1 million in savings due to the retirement of the five officers. McGinty and D’Esposito will each receive a raise, which will increase the budget by about $17,000.

Officially, the township provided enough money for the police department to hire one new officer, but Moran felt the need to have supervision was too strong.

“We need to have supervision,” Moran said. “In 2012, we handled 39,062 calls for service. Back when we had 74 officers, we handled 31,000 calls for service, and with the type of calls we’re handling now and all the paperwork, we need supervision to ensure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. As the department shrinks, we need supervisors.”

Lt. Tom Davey, Lt. Paul Dooner, Sgt. Troy Midgette, Cpl. Mike Goldberg, and Cpl. Harvey Bird all retired as of Jan. 1. The retirements saved the jobs of the five most junior officers, who would have been laid off due to budget constraints. The retirements of those five senior officers left the department with one chief, one captain, five sergeants and four corporals. The department has 48 officers.

Moran said the supervisory positions are necessary due to the 24 hours a day, seven days a week nature of the job.

The announcement of the promotions was made at the council meeting Tuesday night, after township council recognized employees for their long-term commitment to the township.

McGinty was among those honored, for his 10 years of service to the township. The others included:

Melinda Ade, Jack Bowden and Thomas Davey, for 25 years; Raymond Casanova, for 20 years; Ron Schreiber and Jody Smith for 15 years; and William Ade, Justin Butler, Gary Dooner Sr., Donna Higbee, Kevin Jorgensen, William Kline, Pamela Lewis, Hiram Melendez and Kevin Welsh for 10 years.

McGinty’s father was a cop, and he paid his own way through the Cape May County Police Academy. He graduated from Absegami High School and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and joined the force in 2002. He served five years as an officer and five years as a detective. He founded the police department’s color guard.

D’Esposito also graduated from Stockton. He became a police officer in Stone Harbor in 2003, and joined the Galloway Police Department in 2004. He became a patrolman after one month, and is part of the K-9 unit. His K-9 is cross-trained for narcotics detection. D’Esposito has won numerous K-9 competitions.