New top cop for Mullica

NBC 40 News Video of Swearing in
From the Press of Atlantic City, Hometown, June 30, 2010. Michelle Lee, Staff Writer.


Mullica Township is getting a new police leader, with the promotion of Paul Register from lieutenant to chief.

The 47-year-old Egg Harbor Township resident is replacing Chief Joseph Barbera, who is retiring. Detective Sgt. John Thompson will be promoted to captain at the same swearing-in ceremony, filling a vacancy left in 2007 when Barbera became chief. As of press time, the terms of the new chief and Thompson's contracts were still being negotiated, Dawn Stollenwerk, the township's chief financial officer, said last week.

Register, who grew up in Atlantic City and previously lived in Mullica Township, said he became interested in law enforcement because of his family - his father, Paul Hood, worked for the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office, his stepfather, Percy Wing, was a state motor vehicle inspection officer and an officer for Egg Harbor City and Woodbury, and his brother, Richard Hood, is an Atlantic City officer.

Register started his law enforcement career in 1986 as a corrections officer for the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office, and he switched to become a sheriff's officer a year later. He joined the Mullica Township force in 1989 and worked his way up through the ranks. He also served as a K-9 officer from 1996 to 2006.

The chief-to-be said his main goal will be "to have the police department become more involved with the community."

"First and foremost, I'd like to focus on our at-risk youth," Register said in an interview last week. He noted that Det. Brian Zeck suggested playing sports games with local youths to get them engaged in other activities. The idea is to have young people associate police officers with other images besides making arrests, he said.

Register added that he would like to implement another program with his brother in which at-risk youths could visit East Jersey State Prison "to keep them on the straight and narrow."

Other programs Register said he would also like to institute include bringing back a police K9 to help fight drugs (the dog would be sponsored through donations) and starting a police bicycle patrol.

Register has won numerous community awards and letters of commendation for his work. He is a member of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Mayor Michael St. Amour praised Register and said he is well known throughout the township and the greater region. "I'm confident he'll have the respect of his new officers in the police department based on his experience and work ethic," he said.

The new Mullica police chief and captain will be sworn in at 5 p.m. today in the Mullica Township.