New beginning for Townsend Police Department

Chief hired to develop agency for growing town

By Craig Anderson
Posted 11/19/21

TOWNSEND — Continued growth is inevitable in this southern New Castle County town, and its officials are getting out in front of it.

Since Nov. 1, new Police Chief Bob Longo has been working to rebuild a department from the ground floor, and adding officers won’t come until the foundation is complete.

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New beginning for Townsend Police Department

Chief hired to develop agency for growing town

Townsend Police Chief Bob Longo describes his vision for the new department.
Delaware State News/Craig Anderson
Posted

TOWNSEND — Continued growth is inevitable in this southern New Castle County town, and its officials are getting out in front of it.

Since Nov. 1, new Police Chief Bob Longo has been working to rebuild a department from the ground floor, and adding officers won’t come until the foundation is complete.

“Right now, we’re in the infant stages, and being in the infant stages, the first thing we need to do is have your policies done, have them written, have them reviewed and approved, and then, from there, you move on, getting your equipment,” Chief Longo said.

“I’m not at the point yet to look at officers. The basics have to be there first. You can’t build a roof on a house if you don’t have walls, and right now, we’re just laying the concrete base of this department.”

Any decisions will be made with an eye on the future, as Townsend continues expansion, Town Manager Anthony Mangeri said.

Townsend had 346 residents 20 years ago, and now, more than 2,700 live there.

Additionally, 255 home units are being built over the next three years, upping the number of residents to approximately 3,500, Mr. Mangeri said.

“So it’s time to have this discussion,” he said of creating a police department.

“People are moving to Delaware. People are interested in this area and moving to Delaware and out of the bigger cities and the major areas. I think COVID has created some of that interest.

“And we’re even getting inquiries from businesses that want to migrate to this area. So you know, to be sustainable, to be resilient. It’s a reasonable thing to talk about at this point.”

Mr. Mangeri said he is unsure when the previous Townsend Police Department was operational but estimated that it has been several decades since it shut down.

While the town manager said the budget for a new department is to be determined based on how it’s constructed, there is already money allocated for municipal police services.

Currently, Delaware State Police officers cover the town on regular duty, and Townsend also pays for extra services.

“We analyze all budget items and look at efficiencies, and we felt we could do better with our own municipal police department,” Mr. Mangeri said.

As part of the process, Townsend reached out to other local departments and the New Castle County Police Department about entering mutual-aid agreements. The town also reached out to DSP about its support systems, he said.

Chief Longo arrives in Townsend from Milton, where he guided the police department for four years. He moved to Delaware from New Jersey in 2010 to become Bridgeville’s police chief. In New Jersey, he served as a Department of Corrections deputy warden, among other jobs.

While the chief earned his certification in ministry from Liberty University in August 2020, “I don’t push my religion when I’m on the job. I want everyone to be treated equally no matter who they are.

“As a police officer, you’re a servant of people. In ministry, you’re a servant of people. My whole life has involved being in service to others.”

All things considered, Chief Longo said, “I think this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Obviously, there are other people who applied that thought the same thing.

“It’s not too often in a police officer’s career that you can start a department. And again, this is not about me, I want to make that perfectly clear. This is about this town and providing an effective community policing agency, and that’s what my career has been about — community policing.”

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