PHOTO LEFT TO RIGHT: Chief Dean Ackermann, Special Officer Michael Friedman, Special Officer Angelica Oliva, Mayor Bruce Packer.
At the August 30th, 2017 public meeting of the Mayor and Council, Mayor Bruce Packer swore in the newest additions to the Glen Rock Police Department. Special Police Officers Michael Friedman and Angelica Oliva officially became Class 1 Special Law Enforcement officers, a part time position, in front of a crowd which included family members, residents and full-time sworn members of the GRPD.
Special Officer Friedman has been a Glen Rock resident for just over forty years and is a fully certified Special Officer who has transferred to the GRPD from another agency. He has also served as a Glen Rock School Crossing Guard and was a member of the former Glen Rock Volunteer Auxiliary Police Unit which was disbanded several years ago. As he is fully certified by the NJ Police Training Commission, Special Officer Friedman will immediately begin in-house field training under the supervision of full time members of the department.
Special Officer Oliva, who grew up in Florida where both of her parents serve with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department, has worked as an Administrative Aide in the GRPD Records Bureau for the last five years. Officer Oliva is fluent in Spanish, bringing the total number of bi-lingual GRPD officers to six. She will begin basic training on September 7th at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute Police Academy in Mahwah. A December 2017 graduation is expected.
Special Law Enforcement Officers – Class 1 are part time employees who do not carry firearms. They are authorized to make arrests of disorderly and petty disorderly person offenses committed in their presence, issue traffic and parking summonses, and to enforce municipal ordinances. They cannot be used in place of regular police officers, but rather provide secondary services such as maintaining a police presence in the Central Business District, parking enforcement and traffic control as well as supplemental patrols.
“A properly run special police unit instituted with the necessary cooperation of and supervision by our regular officers can go a long way towards meeting our needs in a cost-effective manner.” stated Chief Ackermann.
Chief Dean Ackermann and the members of the GRPD welcome Officers Friedman and Oliva as part of the agency.
Contributed by: Chief Dean Ackermann
