Marc Kovar
Executive Vice President
A lesson in leadership
we can all learn from
Amidst the chaos of tragedy, I hope all departments are fortunate
enough to have a leader like Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald.
His command presence and compassion showed that morning
when Paterson Local 1 member Tamby Yagan was killed in a crash.
Chief Oswald provided the type of leadership that rose above all the
political BS that too many chiefs use to run their departments, the
antics that too many chiefs use to mount unfounded disciplinary
attacks that attempt to save their municipalities money in hopes of
impressing local elected officials.
Chief Oswald was still the acting chief on that April 22 morning.
Now, unfortunately, I have been to a lot of hospitals in these tragic
situations when an officer has been hurt or worse, and what Chief
Oswald did to command his department was second to none. He
wasn’t even sworn in yet – he would be sworn in as chief three days
later – but he made sure every one of his officers was taken care of
that day.
He covered the major details, like making sure the mental health
support the PBA brought with NJ State PBA Peer Liaison Chair
Moe Farallo, Dr. Michael Bizzarro and Ken Burkert from Princeton
House tended to all the officers that d ay. He covered the little de-
tails, like ordering food to feed the hundreds of officers who came
from the hospital back to headquarters after Tamby didn’t make it.
When we responded to the hospital, Chief Oswald brought me to
see the family. As I saw Tamby’s body lying there, it broke my heart,
of course. To see this young kid who went to work and died in the
line of duty and his family, I will never be able to get those images
out of my head.
I really wish every politician could see that, as well as everybody
else who ever wants to bash the police. We appreciate when the
elected officials come to the funerals and the nice words they have
for the families and our officers. If only those words would not be
forgotten a week later when they want to battle with us over the
2-percent cap.
That’s why we all need to follow the example of Chief Oswald.
He took command the right way. At Tamby’s funeral, he could not
do enough for his officers. We saw him at the Paterson Blue Mass a
few days later, and he came up to Moe and I to ask questions about
the proper way to do things, about how to work with us to do the
best he can for his women and men. He asked our advice instead of
thinking we were trying to take over.
Sure, we wish all chiefs would ask us these questions. But we
wish all chiefs were like Chief Oswald. He’s not a politician. He’s a
real cop.
Every one of his officers knows that he came up the right way
from working patrol to working in a street crimes unit to working
narcotics. Many of his officers have praised Chief Oswald for not
just being street-wise, but for being well-educated. He never took
the 9-to-5 job with weekends off. He has never forgotten where he
came from.
I want this to be a lesson for all elected officials out of this trag-
edy. This is the type of chief all departments need. We don’t need
the guy who became chief because he’s the mayor’s buddy, or he
went to all the mayor’s balls. We don’t need the guy who is the great
test taker. That is what is destroying police departments through-
out the U.S.
Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald
We need chiefs who are the true street cops and work their way
up the right way. We need chiefs who won’t try to jam up their offi-
cers just because a tie is not tied the right way.
We are fortunate in New Jersey to have some of those great chiefs.
North Bergen Chief Robert Down is one of those. Remember the
way he led his department through losing an officer to suicide last
year? And who can forget the leadership of Summit Chief Robert
Weck helping his women and men recover from the loss of Officer
Matthew Tarentino to a car crash in May 2017? Or how two days
after he was named chief, Jersey City’s Michael Kelly guided his de-
partment through the death of Lieutenant Christopher Robateau?
But I haven’t seen enough of these, which is why I was blown
away by what Chief Oswald did that day at the hospital and what
he continues to do every day. Being a rookie chief, he could have
crumbled. But he didn’t. He is a glimmer of hope.
When you have a tragedy, it can divide the department in 80 dif-
ferent ways. But when you have somebody like Chief Oswald who
takes command the right way, respects the officers and earns their
respect, that can only make the department stronger and better.
I don’t want to bash all law enforcement leaders. There are plen-
ty of good chiefs, sheriffs and wardens in New Jersey. I just don’t
want you to forget where you came from. Yes, you have to be pro-
gressive with the times, especially in this era of body cameras. But
just because somebody makes a complaint against one of your of-
ficers, don’t go right to IA and then suspend the officer. We have
seen enough of these come through in which the chief succumbs
to public pressure and suspends an officer for two months, only to
have it reversed a month later because the officer didn’t do any-
thing wrong.
The ones who suspend first and ask questions later are the poli-
ticians. The ones who stand by the officer’s side are the real leaders.
Don’t forget where you came from. Be a real leader.
In closing, on behalf of President Pat Colligan and the entire NJ
State PBA, I would like to send our thoughts and prayers to Tamby
Yagan’s family and the entire Paterson Police Department, as well
as to the family and colleagues of Sergeant Sean McNamee Gan-
non of the Yarmouth (Massachusetts) Police Department, who was
shot and killed while serving a warrant with his K9 partner on April
12. d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ MAY 2018 7