Valor Awards
Silver Medal of Valor Award
Detective James Udijohn
Mercer County Sheriffs Officers Local 187
Cooling the gang
Detective takes another gang member off the streets of Trenton
2016 NJSPBA
Valor Awards
Fifteen years on the force – and three in a counter-gang unit – made Mercer County Sheriffs Officers Local 187 Detective James Udijohn no stranger to some rough actors. But the intense work makes the payoff that much more satisfying.
“ I like that we get to help the community by taking gang members off the streets, arresting them and trying to get the streets and the blocks back to the citizens of the community,” he attested.
So in the late evening of Aug. 5, 2015, while on duty in Trenton, working alongside a pair of New Jersey State Trooper detectives, Udijohn heard a broadcast detailing units to a report of shots fired, and the trio responded.
“ We knew ahead of time that there was a feud going on between different gang members in the area, so we responded to the area where we thought the subjects might be retreating to after they fired the shots,” Udijohn recounted.
On scene, the detectives quickly located three males in the area of the shooting. When they exited their vehicle and identified themselves as police to the group of males, one began to adjust the waistband of his pants, which officers immediately believed to be concealing a gun. Then he ran.
“ We ended up getting in a foot chase with him, at which time he pulled out a gun and pointed it at us,” Udijohn confirmed.“ We fired back, striking him.” The threat was over.“ We make several gun arrests a month but you never want
to shoot anybody,” he added.“ I work with a great group of guys with years of experience encountering people with guns; it’ s kind of second nature. It’ s just doing our job to act.”
Udijohn acknowledged that being part of a police-involved shooting nowadays is not easy for an officer, but he’ s grateful to have so many great co-workers and a great family as a support staff who sustained him through this ordeal.
Possibly no one out of this support group had both the personal connection and professional understanding as Local 187 State Delegate Pat Papero, who has known Udijohn since he was two years old.
“ We lived above him in an apartment complex,” Papero related.“ I have pictures of me and my sister with him and his sister in the kiddie pool from 30 years ago.”
So when Papero heard what happened, he jumped into action.
“ I raced down there and got choked up when I saw him,” he admitted.“ I just wanted to make sure he was OK. It was an emotional night. You worry the threat is stopped for the people in the community, but my main concern was for him and his family to make sure he was going home. That’ s the only thing that matters. To me, these guys are the best of the best. We’ re the Sheriff’ s Office, and not known as the guys on the street doing everyday surveillance and police work. This just shows our guys are out there doing the same job, taking violent offenders and repeat criminals off the street.” d
www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ DECEMBER 2016 53