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Vol. 4 – No. 32 ♦
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April 25, 2020 – May 2, 2020
‘WELL-DESERVED RETIREMENT’
‘Painstaking’ Probe into Spring Hill Fire Concludes with Five Facing Civil Charges By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
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Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas.
Pemberton Township Police Chief David Jantas to Retire and Hand Over Reins to Executive Officer Lt. David King By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—David H. Jantas, who has served as police chief of the Pemberton Township Police Department for almost ten years, has announced his retirement. “I would like to congratulate Chief Jantas on a very well-deserved retirement,” said Pemberton Township Councilman Jason Allen. “If there is someone in the township who doesn’t know Chief Jantas, they must be hiding under a rock, because he is highly visible in our community. He has been everywhere, from council meetings to church events; from TAG meetings to firehouse banquets.” Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel told this newspaper on April 16 that Jantas’ retirement becomes effective May 1, and Mayor David A. Patriarca intends to appoint Lt. David King, currently the executive officer of the police department, as acting police chief while the municipality goes through an “interview and promotional process” for the top post. Ja nt a s , who celebr at e d h is 26t h anniversary with the Pemberton Township Police Department on April 11, confirmed to this newspaper in an April 17 interview that he will be handing over the reins to King, who he called a “brilliant operational police officer,” on May 1. “He will do great in the position,” Jantas said. “He has the support of the men and women of this department, and has my recommendation to succeed me in this office. Lt. King came on the same day as I did, and our careers have gone along the same pathway. We worked together in the Detective Bureau and were both Traffic
Safety officers. I know Lt. King and his abilities quite well, and that is why I have no hesitation, and am quite pleased and proud to say that he will be taking over the office.” Jantas, in the April 17 interview with this newspaper, said that he briefed Patriarca about his intention to retire from the police department on Jan. 28. He stressed that he had put in for his retirement “not foreseeing what was coming” with the global COVID-19 pandemic striking close to home in Pemberton Township. “I had no clue,” he said. “I would have held off a little longer if I had any idea that this would have happened. But the die has already been cast. We have done a bunch of transition actions already. I am confident the police department is being left in good hands.” Jantas told this newspaper that he was “very appreciative of this town” and the opportunities the Township of Pemberton had afforded to him. “I was a kid from the projects in Bayonne, New Jersey,” Jantas said. “I grew up in very austere conditions, and here I am today, where I have become the chief of police of a town, which never ceases to amaze me.” In 1994, then-Police Chief Paul Tuliano, Jr., Jantas said, hired him. Jantas described that he became a police officer when he was 31 years old, which he noted is “a little bit older than most recruits.” Jantas served as a patrol officer and traffic safety officer, before being promoted to sergeant of the department in 1998. He also served as a detective sergeant for a time, before being chosen for the department’s top post. “I was lucky enough to climb through the
ranks and ultimately assume the role of chief of police,” Jantas said. “Becoming chief of police was an honor that I never anticipated. I was very humbled by that, and have been very honored to have the opportunity to lead an agency with these great men and women who I am proud to call police officers.” Under Jantas’ leadership, the police department became a two-time accredited police agency, established a drop-off box at the municipal building for unused medications and implemented a police body camera program. He has also sat on and chaired the Burlington County Youth Success Board. “There have been a lot of successes with the department,” he said. However, Jantas also acknowledged that there have been challenges that the department has faced during his tenure. “There are challenges as well, and there will be ones long after I am gone,” he said. “That is why police department exists. But again, there are men and women who come into this job every day to address these issues and make things better for the residents.” Jantas, when asked about the challenges, including shootings and an opioid epidemic that has resulted in Pemberton having the “unfortunate distinction” of leading all other county municipalities in overdose deaths and Narcan (overdose reversal medication) deployments, declared that “law enforcement in any municipality is difficult.” “We don’t always get to see people at their best, while working the streets and dealing with public in times in crisis,” he said. “We are not always the most popular See CHIEF/ Page 7
WOODLAND—Last year’s Spring Hill Wildfire, the largest state forest fire since 2007 that consumed over 11,638 acres of land in Bass River and Penn State forests and “burned for a month,” was the result of “embers from an illegal bonfire that had been set on private property, which escaped and set the nearby forest ablaze,” concluded a nearly year-long investigation into the blaze by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS), New Jersey State Police, New Jersey State Park Police, and both the Burlington County and New Jersey Fire Marshals’ offices. Investigators had previously announced that they had suspected a one -to one-and-a-halfacre sand pit was the Spring Hill Wildfire’s point of origin, and that the site was a spot known to authorities for illegal bonfires. The “painstaking investigation,” as State Firewarden and NJFFS Chief Gregory S. McLaughlin put it, resulted in the filing of “civil charges” against a 17-year-old minor, along with Zachary L. Staff, 19, of Hainesport, Jaffrey D. Wood Jr., 20, of Pemberton, Zachary W. Joseph, 21, of Pemberton, and Cassidy H. Gregory, 19, of Mount Holly. A complai nt sig ned on Ma rch 20, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), which oversees the NJFFS, charges the five individuals with “setting a fire without written permission,” and “failure to extinguish the fire and notify authorities.” “Nearly all wildfires are caused by people, through accidents, carelessness, negligence and even arson,” McLaughlin said. “Reducing those risks is especially critical at this time of year, when weather conditions and other factors can increase wildfire risk. The painstaking investigation of the Spring Hill Wildfire over the past year highlights why human behavior is a critical factor in preventing wildfires.” The Spring Hill Wildfire, which formed during the early afternoon hours of March 30, 2019, was fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds, and explosively grew from 250 acres to over 8,000 acres in just the course of 16 hours. Its “rapid rate of spread” at one point prompted officials to conduct backfires adjacent to homes in Woodland Township as a precaution, caused some residents to voluntarily evacuate and forced a two-day closure of Route 72. The fire, which began in the remote Penn State Forest, near the Washington Township and Woodland Township municipal border, also prompted firefighters to use blowhole firing, a See FIRE/ Page 5
INDEX COVID-19 Information... 8
Here’s My Card............ 14
Marketplace................. 15
Games......................... 12
Local News.................... 2
Worship Guide............. 13
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