The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | May 2023
Continued from previous page
the very effective work in matters of such kind obtained through the State Police Chiefs Association .” In fact , the handbook published by the NJSACOP with the uniform system of hand signals gained some international notoriety at the 1931 Paris convention of the Association of Chiefs of Police of Europe . Not content to stand still , a uniform system of traffic lights came about through the initiative and insistence of New Jersey chiefs of police .
Like their Association , New Jersey chiefs have often been innovators and leaders in advancing law enforcement . In 1928 , Chief Peter Siccardi ’ s Bergen County Police Department became the first police agency in the nation to have an “ Aerial Police ” unit . In 1933 the Bayonne PD became the first to use two-way radios in their vehicles .
It was not just technological advances that had the attention of the NJSACOP . So , too , did the establishment of compulsory statewide training for new police officers . Eventually that goal was realized . But the Chiefs did not just sit back and wait for it to happen . While pressing for the passage of such a law , for decades the Association took it upon itself to bring professional police education into New Jersey . The Chiefs ’ focus on excellence did not go unnoticed .
A newspaper editorial from 1965 got it just right :
“ Professional police work ” is more than a cliché or fancy slogan to back up higher salary demands . A look at the three-day program for the 53 rd annual conference of the State Association of Chiefs of Police backs this up …. Yes , the areas in which a modern policeman must be expert or knowledgeable are varied and many , dealing with factual information and elusive human relationships , law and ethics , as well as with criminals and other lawbreakers . We can no longer hand a rookie a gun , a badge and a night stick and expect him to cope effectively with modern social problems . We must encourage professional standards of police work , selecting the most capable men and women – and paying them accordingly .
This desire to professionalize policing in the state grew into today ’ s NJSACOP training and professional development portfolio of programs for police executives that is second to none anywhere .
In 1990 the NJSACOP recognized the great benefits to law enforcement that would come from the adoption of best practices , or “ standards .” The Association ’ s Executive Board passed a resolution that year supporting the adoption of voluntary standards for police agencies and sought out the appropriate state entities to help make this a reality . The process moved in fits and starts , eventually petering out . Not content to wait any longer , in 2002 the NJSACOP moved forward to create our own voluntary state accreditation program , which is now one of the largest and most successful law enforcement accreditation programs in the country .
As the calendar turned to a new millennium , NJSACOP introduced technological tools to help chiefs share information , policies , knowledge and communicate in a way unimaginable just a few years before .
Throughout the past 10 decades , the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police , and the members who make it what it is ( and always has been ), have led the way for law enforcement in our state , through good times and bad . For a century , NJSACOP has helped make New Jersey a better place to live , work , and visit through the relentless pursuit of excellence in police leadership . If anything , that pursuit will become sharper and more focused as we confront today ’ s exceptionally difficult economic and political realities .
This book is an effort to memorialize and honor the history of this great organization , and to recall the memory of all of those individuals who have made it what it is today . Not every story could be told ; not every name and face could be recollected . But we think it will give the reader a vivid look into the colorful and sometimes stormy history of New Jersey ’ s Chiefs of Police and their state association .
The NJSACOP ’ s international reputation has been one hundred years in the making . We work every day to live up to it , and to see that it carries into our next century .
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