One in an occasional series
NJSACOP Legends & Pioneers
Chief Michael Rodgers
On Friday, September 30, 1927, the Jersey Journal published an“ In Memoriam” article that began with these words:
“ If the good that men do lives after them, former Chief of Police Michael Rodgers of Harrison, who was buried this week, will be remembered for many a year. No municipality ever could boast a more conscientious official. In his thirty years of police work, not a black mark was ever written against his record. Time and again he was offered the opportunity to collect large sums of money if he would close his eyes on certain violations of the law. He never did.”
Michael Rodgers served as the Chief of the Harrison Police Department for 20 years, retiring in 1921. Upon retirement, his NJSACOP colleagues presented him with a 14-karat gold badge, a photo of which can be found below. He left behind a legacy of service and integrity, both of which were highlighted in the Jersey Journal article:
The chief wasn’ t a wealthy man. He was just the opposite. Keeping the wolf from the door where a house full of children had to be clothed and fed was no easy task. Policemen didn’ t always draw the salaries that now flow from municipal coffers. Chief Rodgers for many years was underpaid. He never murmured. He managed to make ends meet by the hardest kind of struggling. With the opportunities that were offered he could have quit the police department with enough money in the bank to enable him to feel the future would not hold a worry. But Chief Rodgers was not built that way. He walked the straight and narrow path and the desire of his heart was to leave after him a name of which his children need never bow their heads in shame. He did that very thing.
Chief Rodgers’ funeral was a chance for his fellow citizens to show the esteem in which he was held.“ Men high in public office rubbed elbows with street laborers as groups filed past the bier of the man who was a friend to men.” His selflessness and dedication to service went beyond police work. It was noted that innumerable people came to the Chief for help, which was always willingly offered regardless of“ from whence came a request ….” Over the years, Chief Rodgers obtained employment“ for more men and women than any dozen officials in town. He didn’ t write letters of introduction to employers; he accompanied every applicant to the location where employment was sought.”
The In Memoriam honored Chief Michael Rodgers with a simple but powerful summation –“ Men of his type are rare.”
8