A salute to Correctional Police Offi cers
State Corrections Day 2018 presents a new sense of respect and a
renewed feeling of honor for those offi cers who walk this tough beat
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
■ PHOTOS BY JIM CONNOLLY
State Corrections Day on July 30 be-
stowed many distinguished expressions to
support who walks this arduous beat and
reminders of what it takes to get home safe
from behind the walls each and every day.
By 6:30 a.m., vanloads of State Corrections
Local 105 members from facilities through-
out New Jersey had mustered at Bayside State
Prison in the southwest corner of the state for the
annual ceremony to honor Officer Fred Baker, who was
lost there 21 years ago.
Those vans would later convoy north to Trenton, where a second
ceremony to remember fallen corrections officers culminated with
the laying of roses and a bell-ringing roll call for all 25 remembered
at the memorial outside the Department of Corrections (DOC).
Hundreds of officers mustered and stood tall at attention as guest
speaker John F. Cunningham, an administrator with the Police
Training Commission who w alked this beat, extolled how correc-
tions officers are also social workers, teachers, medical profession-
als and role models rolled into one. Just like all law enforcement.
The defining moments of this hallowed day – the reinforcement
for those who work behind the walls and their extensions – might
have been born out of the roll call of the fallen. The first name called
was Deputy Keeper James B. Lippincott, who was lost on March 2,
1894. When Victor Viteritto fell in the line of duty on Feb. 28, 1951, he
carried the title of “Correctional Officer.” And then as Department of
Corrections Acting Commissioner Marcus Hicks announced during
the ceremony in Trenton, a state law had been signed to change the
title to “Correctional Police Officer.”
At that moment, the hundreds of officers mustering here – and
throughout the state – stood even taller, perhaps feeling recogni-
tion for how they enhance public protection and safety of all New
Jersians. How they keep the line between anarchy and peace in the
communities. And to let people know that state correctional police
officers are not just jail guards.
“On this solemn day, it’s the people of our department that we
honor and salute,” Local 105 President Brian Renshaw declared in
the speech he made at the Trenton ceremony. “We are joined togeth-
er by a special bond forged from the risks we confront on a daily
basis. I know how hard we worked and how hard we trained to get
that respect that we deserve, like every other law enforcement offi-
cer in the state.”
The day was filled with such tributes, bringing awareness to what
correctional police officers live with on a day-to-day basis and what
they do to serve the public inside the facilities and outside the walls.
Respect and homage went to Fred Baker and his family, who in-
spired the proclamation in 2012 that the anniversary of his death
CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
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