MANCHESTER – Township Police Chief Antonio Ellis recently discussed the Goal Zero program during a recent council meeting along with several other police related issues.
Goal Zero involves the police department joining forces with law enforcement in surrounding communities to participate in a high visibility county wide enforcement detail confronting the staggering rise in traffic deaths New Jersey has experienced in recent years.
High visibility enforcement details took place in late March and will continue. Between Monmouth and Ocean counties, 55 miles of roadway will be simultaneously enforced.
Traffic safety culture and driving behaviors must change to keep people alive on New Jersey roadways, according to township police.
“As of March 18, 2025, 101 people have lost their lives on New Jersey roadways in 2025. Thirteen of these deaths occurred in Ocean County. This is an initiative started in Holmdel Township,” Chief Ellis said. “These numbers are staggering. We are currently number one in the state at this time for fatalities so we take this seriously.”
Law enforcement agencies in Ocean County are dedicated to lowering these numbers and keeping our roadways safe by holding Code: Zero details on the last Thursday of every month through September.
A photo featuring the Goal Zero Campaign has particular significance. The green color of the logo used for the Goal: Zero program represents visibility for pedestrians and school safety. The black bar is a mourning band for all lives lost in traffic crashes. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
The color of the logo used for the Goal: Zero program represents visibility for pedestrians and school safety, green. The black bar is a mourning band for all lives lost in traffic crashes.
“Patrolman Matt Menosky of the Holmdel Police Department put this on about a year ago and did a successful zero tolerance campaign,” Ellis said. “This will most likely be grant funded through grants secured by (the State Division of Highway Safety) so there will be no cost to public taxpayers. It is for officers to get out there and do enforcement.”
Goal: Zero brought together officers from 36 municipalities during last year’s enforcement details to monitor driving behaviors and issue summonses for violations such as speeding, careless driving and distracted driving.
Chief Ellis added that he was pleased to bring the initiative to Manchester Township in partnership with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and “our fellow officers at Lakehurst, Toms River, Lakewood and Brick police departments.”
Heritage Minerals Fatality
Mayor Joseph Hankins noted a recent fatality at the Heritage Minerals property, a place where people frequently trespass and put themselves in danger of drowning or off-road vehicle crashes.
“The Township Council does set a fine structure (for trespassing) for the judge to follow and I’ve asked that perhaps the court administrators to consider asking the judge to raise it. We have no say on what the judge does in court – it is his game – but at the end of the day it seems to be cheaper if you get caught trespassing to pay the fine than to pay anywhere else so unless we can make that fine more salient, we’ll be continuing to see people use that facility,” the mayor said.
He noted it was private property and was previously part of a mining operation by its former owners and is a dangerous area to navigate and to swim in. Its outward appearance is often misleading but numerous fatalities have occurred in the past.
Numerous signs note that the Heritage Minerals property is private property and that trespassers should stay out and that violators will be prosecuted. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
“We are working with the property owners to manage outside stuff but at the end of the day it is private property. So, for police officers to go in there on routine patrol would be like me patrolling your pool. We don’t typically go in there. We make sure the outside is fortified,” he added.
Chief Ellis said, “we work with Public Works to make sure that barriers are put back up and ‘no trespassing’ signs are in place as well. We will be planning some joint trainings with the fire departments and our emergency services and practice scenarios so if we have to go into that area for drowning or a quad accident or a fire, we have access to and can make sure our members can operate safely inside Heritage Minerals because it is very treacherous.”
New Communications Equipment
The township recently approved bonding for the purchase of telecommunications equipment for the Manchester Police Department for the $7,125,000 expenditure.
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