Phillipsburg Democratic Committee Statement:

A false report to 911 is a crime.

On August 18, 2021, Council President Frank McVey was charged with Misuse of the 911 system, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-3(e) False public alarms, a crime with a penalty of up to eighteen months in New Jersey State Prison.

It is not our place to determine his guilt or innocence. Like every other criminal defendant, he is innocent until proven guilty. We can’t know what was going through his mind when he made that call.

We only know this.

A false public alarm wastes not only the time of first responders but also their resources.

A false report takes an ambulance away from a dying man.

It takes a fire truck away from a fire.

It takes a police officer away from protecting the community.

Our community police force performs heroic work every day with the resources they have, but they are stretched very thin, particularly after this town council’s cuts to their budget.

The work our police department performs is simply too important to allow Mister McVey to distract them with this kind of spectacle. If this call was a prank, then it was profoundly misguided. If it was election-year grandstanding, then it was dangerous and irresponsible.

Now, more than ever we need sober, level-headed leadership. For the good of the community, Frank McVey must step down.