Middlesex loses third police officer in 2025, looking to hire chief
MIDDLESEX TWP — The Middlesex Township Police Department is looking to do something it hasn’t done in two decades — hire a full-time police chief.
Township supervisors approved a motion to advertise the job opening during their meeting on Wednesday, April 16. The move comes on the heels of the police department losing three officers in just two months, reducing their force to four full-time officers and one part-time officer.
At one point, according to township supervisor Jeffrey Winkle, the police department had seven full-time officers. The part-time officer, Conrad Pfeifer, also serves as executive director of Quality EMS.
At a supervisors work session earlier this month, it was announced that part-time officer Timothy Cryster Jr. had resigned from the force after only one month. In March, officer Collin Lawson also tendered his resignation.
Winkle denied that the resignations are due to a common problem in the police department or the township.
“We’re not aware of any common threads,” Winkle said. “They just chose to leave on their own. They all just submitted their letter of resignation and they resigned. They didn’t give any reasons.”
Winkle says that the township’s search for a police chief isn’t necessarily connected to the police department losing a number of police officers in a short amount of time.
“I think it’s more of the board (of supervisors) looking to have a position that oversees the administrative duties of the police department,” Winkle said. “Anything from scheduling to training … anything to benefit the township and work toward a better police department.”
While the police department hasn’t had an official chief since 2005, Cpl. Bryan Costanzo serves as the officer in charge.
Winkle could not give a time frame on when the township would be able to hire a police chief.
“We want to do it right. The board wants to do it right,” Winkle said. “We want to look for good candidates and get the right candidate for the position.”
