The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 26, Number 4 | Page 6

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | December 2019
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
MITCHELL C. SKLAR
NJSACOP Continues Pioneering Work Creating New Partnerships
There is no denying the vital importance of partnerships, collaboration, and cooperative
learning among law enforcement agencies and professionals – on a local, regional, national,
and international basis. In recent years the NJSACOP has been at the forefront of creating
and strengthening links with partners around the country and with policing institutions,
forces, and professionals in like-minded nations. In light of the contemporary threats facing
all police agencies, such connections and exchange of information and learning is more than
just a “nice to have”; it is in fact a “need to have.”
While the past decade has seen a tremendous growth in these connections, the NJSACOP has a long history of
reaching out beyond our borders to share and learn, as well as raise the profile of the Association, our members,
and policing within New Jersey as a whole. As far back as 1931 Newark Police Chief James McRell represented the
NJSACOP at the Association of Chiefs of Police of Europe conference held in Paris. Upon his return to New Jersey,
Chief McRell reported to the NJSACOP membership on the “good and instructive program” conducted by the
European Chiefs. The exchange of information was not just in one direction. As part of his mission in attending the
conference, Chief McRell shared the unique “uniform hand signals” 1 manual created by and published by the
NJSACOP, which he reported had put the NJSACOP “on the map.”
Today, the NJSACOP is without doubt “on the map,” enjoying a reputation as one of the nation’s premier law
enforcement professional associations. This is due, in part, to the important partnerships the Association has
forged with international partners, including the College of Policing [Great Britain], the Scottish Police College,
Greater Manchester Police [UK], the Garda College at Templemore [Ireland], and the Ontario Association of Chiefs
of Police. We have also been the great beneficiaries of assistance from the London Metropolitan Police and the
City of London Police. Closer to home, the NJSACOP and the New Castle County [Delaware] Police have forged an
exceptional working partnership to bring the NJSACOP Command & Leadership Academy to police professionals
throughout the region.
As usual, the NJSACOP is not content to sit still; we have adopted as a governing philosophy the maxim “If you
are not moving forward, you are falling behind.”
While such partnerships (as well as our annual Senior Leaders Seminars conducted in conjunction with our
partners) have indeed put the NJSACOP and police leadership in New Jersey “on the map,” they of course serve a
much larger and more important purpose: creating the best possible police leaders and police agencies for our
communities and all of the people that we serve.
Mitchell C. Sklar, Esq.
NJSACOP Executive Director
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Back in 1924 the NJSACOP had appointed a special committee to “adopt a standard of traffic signals, turning, where Officers are stationed
and the speeding up of heavy traffic.” A copy of this fist-of-its-kind manual is appended to the end of this article.
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