Monday, August 12, 2002

By JOHN AND JEN BARAT

Located in Bergen County, Tenafly has an area of approximately 4.61 square miles. Patrols cover approximately 53 miles of municipal roads, 7 miles of county roads, and Route 9W, a main thoroughfare to the George Washington Bridge.

The Tenafly Police Department is commanded by Chief Michael Bruno who became the seventh chief in the history of the department when he was appointed this year.

The department, formed in 1918, includes 30 sworn officers and six civilian employees. According to the 2000 US Census, the population is approximately 14,000 citizens.

As far as crime, Tenafly has to deal with changing crime patterns. Residential burglaries and crimes such as fraud and identity theft are the more persistent problems while street crimes such as robbery and car theft are relatively low in number.

Future objectives to fight crime are to expand the investigative and traffic bureaus with additional manpower, to identify and address changing crime trends, and to better inform and educate the public about these latest trends via open seminars, newsletter and local paper articles, and other programs. Also, the department plans to invest in training to identity thefts and Internet crimes.

As with most departments, the main cruiser is the Ford Crown Victoria.

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