TARENTINO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
putting the students in pedal cars, having them wear goggles
that simulated impaired driving or making the students text
“happy birthday” from behind the wheel and let the outcome
scare them straight.
Senior citizens in town loved Matt because he worked re-
lentlessly to help them understand internet scams directed at
the elderly. In his eulogy, Monsignor Seamus Brennan at the
Church of the Immaculate Conception surmised that the only
calling Matt felt stronger for than the priesthood was commu-
nity policing.
“He was born to be a community policing officer, and if he
had done it for 25 years, he would have changed the world,” ap-
plauds Proctor who worked many of those school details with
Matt. “He advanced our program 20 times from where it was.”
Tarentino’s community policing impact stretched coast to
coast. When Chief Weck attended the International Association
of Chiefs of Police conference in San Diego last October, he met
the executives from the company that developed Nextdoor, an
app that enables residents to know about what’s going on in
their neighborhood, whether it’s finding a last-minute babysit-
ter, learning about an upcoming block party or hearing about a
rash of car break-ins.
Matt’s passion for technology and using social media in com-
munity policing brought Nextdoor to Summit. He was so pro-
lific with it that when Weck met the creators in San Diego, they
asked him to take a selfie with them to send to Matt.
He was a natural to be the face of community policing – “Be-
cause he was so handsome,” Vicki gushed at the funeral – and
Weck wanted the entire state of New Jersey to see as much.
For the Attorney General’s Outstanding Community Policing
Awards, each of the six departments being honored were asked
30
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JUNE 2017
Matt’s grandfather, Sydney Spiegel, left, with President Dwight Eisenhower
whom he served as an Army Ranger when General Eisenhower was plan-
ning the D-Day invasion.
to provide details about their programs. Summit was slated to
speak fifth, and four chiefs had already presented when Weck
stood up, spoke for a few seconds and handed the microphone
to Matt.
Afterward, Porrino was so awestruck that he told his staff at
a meeting later in the day about this officer who spoke at the
awards presentation.
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