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A temporary barbershop inside the township police department has shut down amidst an investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Woodbridge Township Police Director Robert Hubner was told to stop inviting a barber into the sally port to give officers and civilian workers haircuts as soon as his office became aware of it, Acting Prosecutor Christopher L. C. Kuberiet said in a statement.
Personal care businesses have been closed in New Jersey since March 19 when Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A hair salon owner in Brick Township was cited in April for violating the governor’s emergency order. On Monday, June 22, the state is allowing barber shops, hair and nail salons, massage parlors, spas, tattoo shops and tanning salons to reopen.
Hubner told NJ Advance Media that the police department paid $1,605 to a local barber for the first round of haircuts using taxpayer money from the federal Cares Act and that he was hired so the officers could comply with the department’s personal grooming standards.
A photo of the area reviewed by nj.com showed a barber chair set up in an industrial-looking area, where suspects are brought in and out of the police station. A folding table held cleaning supplies, a mirror and a tip jar, and a light was behind the chair.
The barber came six times. He also gave haircuts to non-members of the department, Hubner told nj.com, although it’s unclear to whom.
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