Traffic Safety

The Cherry Hill Police Department Traffic Safety Squad currently handles Traffic Safety issues through its Community Response Unit. This specialty unit consists of two Lieutenants, a Sergeant, 10 sworn Police Officers and one civilian employee. Five officers and one Lieutenant are assigned to each of two Platoons, which work on a rotating basis to ensure 7-day-a-week coverage, and the Sergeant oversees day-to-day operations across both Platoons' officers while working Monday through Friday.

In addition to managing close to 50 part-time school crossing guards during the school year, the Department's Special Law Enforcement Officers also fall under the responsibility of this office. The Community Response/Traffic Officers serve the needs of the 70,000 plus residents as well as the over 250,000 vehicles that pass through and visit the Township each day.

Crash Investigations and Construction Projects

Each Traffic officer is a trained Crash Reconstructionist and holds certifications in various specialized investigations such as motorcycle, commercial vehicle and pedestrian crashes. These officers respond to and investigate the most serious of crashes that occur throughout the Township. The Traffic Officers also review all construction projects with respect to their impact upon the roadways within the Township. This process ensures that contractor plans comply with local ordinances for the safe and efficient flow of traffic in the affected areas, and also ensures that any active road construction projects do not cause unsafe conditions to motorists and pedestrians traveling through the area.

Programs

Traffic Officers aggressively participate in both State and National Safety Campaigns such as Click it or Ticket, Buckle Up South Jersey, Pedestrian Safety Enforcement and Decoy Operations, Distracted Driving Enforcement and Over the Limit Under Arrest. Officers from this unit maintain and deploy portable speed displays for neighborhood driver feedback when speeding is occurring, large variable message boards for communicating safety messages to the public, marked and unmarked radar-equipped police vehicles for speed enforcement, and they assist with the implementation of various Traffic Calming methods when conflicts occur in neighborhoods.

Also, this unit has developed and implemented a new program called (IDSP), the Impaired Driving Simulator Program, for demonstrations on intoxicated driving and distracted driving to the Township's high school senior classes. The programs utilizes a zero-emissions low speed vehicle, cell phones donated by Verizon, and the "Fatal Vision" goggles to provide a realistic experience of operating a vehicle under the influence or while distracted by a cell phone.

Additional Information

The area of greatest concern to the residents of Cherry Hill is that of traffic congestion and traffic related complaints such as speeding and disregard of traffic control devices. Each Traffic Officer has received specialized training in Traffic Engineering from Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure Training to allow for the analyzing and development of traffic calming remedies to address those specific concerns.

Contact

To reach the Traffic Safety Division with any questions or concerns, please call (856) 488-7820 or email the Division.