1972 state law has actually banned towns from requiring police and firefighters to live where they work.
We understand some of the opposition, especially regarding police officers. We get why they may not want to run into someone they dealt with on the street when they go out to buy a quart of milk.
But the fact remains, getting more police officers and firefighters to live in the towns where they work would be a major plus.
And a bill in the Legislature that would allow a municipality to pass an ordinance requiring police and firefighters to be residents of the municipality for the first five years of employment makes a lot of sense to us.
The bill (A4265/S2783) doesn't require towns to enact such residency restrictions - it simply allows them. It applies only to new hires - no current officer or firefighter would have to move. And people considering jobs as police officers or firefighters would be free to decide if they wanted to apply in a town that required them to live there.
So why not? What's the downside?
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has pushed for the legislation. Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian has expressed support for the idea in the past (the city has long required police and fire applicants to live in the city, but they are free to move once hired), and Liza Cartmell, the former head of the Atlantic City Alliance, once said that requiring police and firefighters to live in the city was one of the three most important changes she would like to see in the resort.
As Stockton University ramps up its Island Campus, and AtlantiCare and Rowan University pursue a medical school in the resort - endeavors expected to attract students, professors and administrators who would live in the city - police and firefighters would be a welcome addition to this new Atlantic City middle class.
This story was taken from the news source stated above. It is not necessarily the opinion of The Elwood Vol. Fire Company or it's members.