The Barnegat Police Crime Reduction Unit in 2022:

One of the ways that the Barnegat Police Department maintains a historically low crime rate is through the focused and tenacious efforts of the Crime Reduction Unit (CRU).

The Crime Reduction Unit is an elite team of highly-skilled Barnegat police officers with a history of exceptional performance. The unit is responsible for high-value investigations involving drugs, weapons, and/or gangs. The unit can also be directed at crime outbreaks in specific areas or involving specific modus operandi.

In 2022, CRU executed 17 search warrants and made 65 arrests while seizing over $175,000 in contraband including quantities of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, MDMA, methamphetamine, and other controlled dangerous substances (CDS). CRU seized four illegally possessed handguns, two vehicles, and approximately $100,000 in US currency.

The most frequently charged offenses were possession of cocaine, distribution or possession with intent to distribute CDS, and possession of heroin.

Weapons charges included possession of a weapon during a CDS transaction, possession of armor-piercing ammunition, possession of a defaced firearm, certain persons not to possess firearms (possession of a weapon by a felon), and possession of high-capacity magazines.

Chief Keith A. Germain praised the members of CRU for their dedication and commitment to keeping Barnegat safe.

“CRU is the embodiment of the precision policing concept that we are committed to as an agency. We know that a very small percentage of the population causes a vast majority of the crime and problems in any community. The team in CRU has once again done a spectacular job of identifying that small percentage and ensuring that they never get a foothold in our community.”