Phones shut off at police HQ; Verizon investigating

By Alesha Williams Boyd • FREEHOLD BUREAU • May 24, 2008

MANALAPAN — Verizon is investigating why phone service was shut off for several hours at the township's police department last week, according to a spokesman for the telecommunications company.

Police Chief Stuart Brown said he filed a complaint with the state Board of Public Utilities regarding the May 14-15 shutoff, which Verizon customer service representatives initially told a shift supervisor was due to nonpayment.

Brown said the last call the department received was at 10:50 p.m. on the 14th, and, after several calls to Verizon, the department's phone system was back online by about 2:15 a.m.

It was the department's main line that was disconnected; calls to 911 were not, Brown said. He said he wasn't aware that any problems resulted from the shutoff.

"Not everybody in this town calls 911 for emergencies; that number (the main line) is in their head," Brown said. "If someone called for assistance and they couldn't get through, that may be the only call they make."

"I cannot defend the billing issue; we are a municipality that pays through a voucher system like hundreds of other towns and I admit it is slow," Brown said in his complaint. "However, as a matter of common sense and decency, I find the practice of "shutting off' the phone service to a 24-hour, public law enforcement agency that is responsible for providing immediate response to public emergencies reprehensible."

"This police department was not forewarned" about the shutoff, Brown said.

He added officers only learned about the disconnection when a caller checking on the welfare of a Manalapan resident called Freehold Township police after being unable to reach Manalapan's department. An officer used the county radio system to notify Manalapan that its phone service was out, the chief said.

The township's administrative department, which Brown said handles payment of utility bills, did not return calls for comment.

Verizon investigation

Verizon spokesman Richard Young said it is unclear whether the problem was because of billing or a technical issue, and the company is looking into what happened to "make it right."

"At this point, I can't say definitively that it was a billing issue," Young said. "We need to see if there's a record of those calls, exactly what was said and why."

Young said the company has experienced occasions when municipal governments have fallen behind in payments, "but we go above and beyond in our efforts to make them whole."

"In general (shutting off service to a police department) shouldn't happen," Young said. "I can't think of an instance when we've deliberately" done that.

Brown said he hopes the BPU and Verizon's internal investigation help the company understand exactly what went wrong so it doesn't happen again.

"If it happened to us, I'm sure it could happen to someone else," he said.

BPU spokesman Doyal H. Siddell said the agency also is looking into the matter.

"Issues involving safety and security are of paramount importance to the NJBPU," Siddell said. "Board staff will be doing a thorough review of Verizon's role in the incident in question."