The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | June 2025
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“ two-hour 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.”
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:
Chief August Klassen
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 Peter Siccardi
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.
Chief William Schoepflin
Chief Harold Davison
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.
1962 The 50 th annual conference of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police was convened at the Hotel Essex & Sussex in Spring Lake. In an address to the conference, John Malone, Assistant Director of the FBI told the delegates that“ the old image of the policeman is gone.” The Assistant Director declared that“ brains have replaced brawn in detection work, and criminals are feeling the long arm of technological advances.” Mr. Malone stated that in contemporary society“ law enforcement is a profession of honor and integrity. Tragically, a few isolated cases still occur where officers betray trust through corruption. This is becoming increasingly rare.”
The Assistant Director praised the NJSACOP for its“ aggressive approach to police administration and training.”
New Jersey Attorney General Arthur Sills asked the Association to work for passage of a bill pending in the State Legislature. The bill would permit the use of a“ drunkometer” or similar mechanical device that would determine“ the sobriety of a motorist arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. The bill would require every motorist, as a condition of being granted a driving
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