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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2015
W
hen he started playing Pop
Warner football at six years old,
Bob Surtees looked up to the big
guy, the one who played offensive and
defensive line on the field and big brother
to everybody on the team. When Surtees
went out for wrestling as a freshman at
Lacey Township High School, a junior on
the team took time out to teach him a few
key moves. When he returned from the
military and decided to become a cop in
Lacey Township, Surtees found a mentor
whom he modeled himself after as a law
enforcement officer, husband and father.
For more than 30 years – nearly 40, actually –Scott Stevens inspired, educated,
advised, guided and guarded Surtees, and
he did likewise for hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of others in Ocean County. The
thousands who mourned the passing of
Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Detective John Scott Stevens on Jan. 21, two
weeks after being in a horrendous car accident while working undercover, no doubt
carried the same perspecti