Officer tackles new role

Michael Beierschmitt, a career law enforcement officer, appears well qualified to be Freehold Bor-ough’s new police chief.

A borough resident since 1964 and a member of the community’s police department since 1979, Beierschmitt, 44, was sworn in as the police department’s new chief at the Borough Council’s Sept. 18 meeting.

He was selected as the borough’s top cop after finishing first in a state-approved police chief’s test, followed by Capt. Michael DiAiso and Lt. Kenneth Mount. Council members had said they would be guided by the results of the test.

It was really a win-win situation for the borough because DiAiso, 49, who headed the department as officer in charge since the retirement of Police Chief William Burlew on March 31, had done an excellent job in that role and presumably would have continued to do so had he won the job.

Beierschmitt brings with him a wealth of experience as a patrolman, patrol supervising sergeant and lieutenant. He was considered to be a fine training officer for rookie patrolmen for the last 20 years. Some of those rookies he trained remain as current members of the police force.

He was a patrol division supervisor during the 1990s when the borough’s crime rate dropped dramatically. There is every reason to believe the borough’s police force will continue this trend under Beierschmitt’s leadership.

We wish him the best of luck.