The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | June 2021
From the NJSACOP Archives …. June
1912 The Friday , June 7 th edition of the Central New Jersey Home News reported that members of the NJSACOP , “ which was organized last February ,” met in New Brunswick the prior day and held a “ twohour session in Elks ’ Hall , when they talked over the best methods and plans to put a further check to crime in the state .” The paper reported that following the business session , “ the chiefs took a jaunt throughout the town in automobiles , and at 6 o ’ clock sat down to a fine spread at the Mansion House and heard some inspiring speeches .”
Chief August Klaussen Weehawken PD
1917 Chief William Linderman of the Merchantville Police Department , a former member of the US Secret Service , arrested a suspected saboteur that he caught in the act of cutting Railroad wires used by the Federal government . A bulletin had been put out following the recent cutting of wires in the area that were leased by the national government for transmission of messages between Washington and New York , and a third wire used by the Pennsylvania Railroad for the handling of troop and munition train . A large number of Secret Service agents and railroad detectives had been keeping watch over the area . Following another failure of the wires , tests showed that the failure occurred in the Ellisburg section of Delaware ( now Cherry Hill ) Township . At 3 o ’ clock in the morning Chief Linderman was notified and he drove to Ellisburg . As reported in the New York Tribune :
After walking some distance , Linderman came upon a man on top of a pole cutting the same three wires a sixth time . At the point of a revolver he ordered the man to descend , and while he was coming down , two other men leaped up from the brush and made off across the meadows .
1921 A giant figure in New Jersey policing history , as well as that of the NJSACOP and the IACP , Bergen County Police Chief Peter Siccardi was inducted into membership in the Association during the June State Chiefs Meeting , as was Weehawken Chief August Klassen and Harrison Chief Andrew Walsh .
Chief William Schoepflin and Harold Davison
1930 Absecon Police Chief William Schoepflin was shot and killed on June 3 rd when he went to investigate suspicious activity at a house in the city .
1946 Red Bank Chief Harold Davison passed away following a long illness on Sunday , June 22 nd . A 24-year veteran of the department , he had been chief for 8 years . Chief Davison , an active member of the NJSACOP , was 49 years old . He was a veteran of World War I .
1947 Graduation ceremonies were conducted on various dates throughout the state for new police officers that successfully completed a training course jointly sponsored by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police , the Newark office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , and the New Jersey State Police . “ Zone Training Schools ” were established nearly 20 years prior by the NJSACOP in the absence of other training for new police officers . In Long Branch , 28 patrol officers received their graduation diplomas by Newark FBI SAC Samuel K . McKee . Long Branch Chief Thomas Marks served as chairman of the School Committee . In Paterson , 55 officers received their diplomas from NJSACOP President Ryan Vandervalk , Chief of the Hawthorne Police Department . SAC McKee was the keynote speaker at the event .
Chief Peter Siccardi Bergen County PD
Chief Thomas Marks and SAC Samuel McKee
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