Toms River Township's new police chief is making his own mark on the township police department.Listen to the full interview

Toms River Police Chief Mitch Little, by T. Mongelli Townsquare Media
Toms River Police Chief Mitch Little, by T. Mongelli Townsquare Media
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After serving less than three months in office, Chief Mitch Little tells WOBM AM's Townsquare Tonight that he's using technology to free up officers, target patrols where they're needed and receive tips from residents.

"The end goal is we have to reduce crime. That's number 1", Little said. "We have to reduce traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities and at the same time we have to reduce the community's fears and increase quality of life," he explained.

Little said they also increased the number of undercover officers in the narcotics unit in response to the drug overdose epidemic. "The first thing I did when I came in I saw the problem and I increased our narcotics unit and just last year, these officers made 168 arrest and took 16,000 bags of heroin off the streets."

The department has also redesigned its website and is making greater use of social media in crime fighting efforts. "We have over 5,000 friends just on Facebook and we put out images of burglary suspects, or robbery suspects, or people that commit thefts, shopliftings and people call in and say I know that person and we end up making an arrest," Little explained.

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