Bill, What exactly is the definition of "known suspects"? Assaults and stolen cars? Seems like crime is climbing to another level in Haddonfield.

Oh boy. Crime is climbing. The Activists(I'll use the abbrev HU from here) are done with turf fields and will be all over this. I say look at the make up of many towns around us.. and welcome to spring. Lock your cars for the next month, the change robbers are coming out... oh and please, please for the time being don't leave your keys in your new $100M car with the auto start. Now those activists, sorry HU members, will say ALL that is wrong with security in this town and won't EVER provide a single sane solution. I see it now.... when they were kids... crimes was never as bad as this... must be the spoiled athletic youth taking the BMW's... their parents taught the kids they are too good for the Honda Accords(no offense to anyone- still #1 stolen car I think), steal European cars!... The 62% need to know their $100M cars can be unlocked at night... this will drive them out of here and to AZ...we need JJ to run as commish, he will make a difference his home hasn't ever been robbed... KASKO didn't want to vote on "Joe"(again, no offense if we have a Joe) police officer, it was the DEMS fault. Just wonderful.. can't wait until the next issue HU comes up with to try to bring this town down a notch. BTW.. What about all the garbage pick up and reseeding those groups were going to do around town? Any actual work outside of yelling at board members and typing they just skip all together? No press release and pictures from the PATCH, so I assume it hasn't happened yet.

Seems like we need a law to ban criminals because bans are highly effective I am told at controlling criminal behavior.

Eric, I read on one of your posts your support the Neighborhood watch program sponsored by the Civic Association so I guess crime in Haddonfield was a problem to you until someone from HU showed concern.
Interesting how you absolve someone who walked on private property and stole a car. Oh, wait, keys were in it. It's not their fault
If someone walked on your property and stole your car you'd be screaming like a 2 year old.
Your "when we were kids" comment to the people who have lived here their whole lives and remember when the whole community took concern in the affairs of the town is an insult. It doesn't matter if you live here 2 months or a lifetime, if you treat your fellow citizens with a little respect you have Haddonfield values, something your bully crowd is short on.
Haddonfield United worked as hard as we did including personal sacrifices for many members because we care about our town and our fellow neighbors without any personal gain, unlike your crowd who thinks the majority of the town exists to buy them things.
Most parents in Haddonfield want the best in education and sports programs, are wonderful people and would never mind a reasonable compromise that benefits the good of the town.
Then there's that small crowd who thinks the whole town works and exists to give them everything they want. Go get an extra job.

Thanks for all of your comments. Please remember to play nice. No name calling please.

Additionally, where are YOUR ideas for compromise? Got any specifics? How about the budget (BOE and Borough). What are your SPECIFIC ideas for budget reductions? Of course we already heard the brilliant ideas in the other comment section about reneging on existing contracts for pensions and health insurance by the same people who are the first to howl about fairness and the rule of law.

I'm not being a bully, I'm just trying to get beyond the generalizations, rhetoric and name calling to real ideas. "NO" is a very easy thing to sell, it's much harder to generate feasible ideas, and provide specifics.

The string of comments above is pretty ironic. Mr. Kelly asked a valid question about who were the "known suspects." It was an appropriate question, since it's not every day that we have stolen cars and assaults in Haddonfield.

And some of the posters beneath his comment go on a rant about Bancroft and HU! I think it's time for some to move on.

Haddonfield values, that's a tough concept to grab. As it's been stated many times before, wasteful irresponsible spending leads to higher taxes. Most people grab that concept and see it as one way to help control spending.
You want an example? Turf on anniversary field. If you're going to do it make sure it is safe and structurally sound. Stadium and Anniversary field are built up fields. Stadium field is surrounded by a concrete buttress to keep in from degrading.
Anniversary field is built up using fill (concrete and stone from old road projects) and is supported by large trees to keep it from severe degradation.
Stadium field doesn't pose the problems of land fill like Anniversary. Underwood Engineering was hitting land fill and water at 3 feet on Anniversary with auger drills. Turf needs a retention pond built under it or both fields will flood, incurring damage and huge costs. That means costly evacuation and transport to take the old fill out not anticipated. The side of the turf needs drains installed 3 to 4 feet deep. The field is 6 feet from the border trees, whose main roots are 1 1/2 feet deep. Install the drain and the roots are destroyed, killing the trees. No large trees and the whole elevation erodes, ruining the field and causing hundreds of thousands in repairs. Careless wasteful spending = higher taxes. Got it?
If you can find a responsible cost effective way to do the field fine. If not, DON'T DO IT.

Bringing this comment thread back on topic (there are others beside Turf after all!)
If you want to learn more about crime in this town, want to learn how to better protect yourself and belongings, or want to do something about it, I invite you to check out http://watch.haddonfieldcivic.com
Since the Town Forum in November on Neighborhood Watch, the Civic Association has formed a Citizen's Advisory Board to develop a program specifically for our boro and neighborhoods. We have recently been endorsed by both the Borough Commissioners and Chief Banning and have begun meeting with large groups like Rotary and small groups of neighbors block by block educating and organizing folks on how to watch out for ourselves and each other.

Get informed, Get Involved -- Neighborhood Watch
David Siedell, President Civic Association

Dave, Great job and thanks for the efforts of the Civic Association in helping the town deal with this problem.