EMERSON—Friends, family, and fellow officers applauded as Mayor Danielle DiPaola and Police Chief Michael Mazzeo swore in two new recruits at the Borough Council’s Jan. 18 meeting.
Jared Chichizola and Thomas P. Solimando were welcomed as full-time probationary police officers at the meeting. They’re off to five months of training at the Bergen County Police Academy. Their starting salary is $42,237, said the chief.
According to Mazzeo, with this action the department has 22 officers, its full complement.
He said Solimando “came out number one” during an extensive hiring process that included a written test and interviews with police officials and administration, and the mayor and council. Some 60 applicants had tried for the slots.
DiPaola extended warm congratulations and said she was proud of the department’s service to Emerson, “the family town.”
Solimando graduated from Westwood Regional High School and attended St. Thomas Aquinas College, New York, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology and business management.
He was a fixture on the Dean’s List and in the National College Honor Society. He competed in high school and college in lacrosse and serves as a junior varsity lacrosse coach at Wayne Valley High School.
Chichizola graduated from Hawthorne High School and attended Marywood University in Scranton, Penn., where he earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and graduated cum laude. He was vice president of Marywood’s Criminal Justice Club and frequently was recognized for academic excellence on the Dean’s List.
Chichizola was a dispatcher both for Bergen County Public Safety Dispatch Center in Mahwah and in Emerson, said Mazzeo.
After the officers graduate the academy they’ll have 10 weeks of field training.
Capt. Michael McDermott retired in December. Police Officer George Featherstone transferred from the force last summer.
Mazzeo said he hoped that with a full force and possible easing of the pandemic the department would resume its community policing events, including the previous Cop Camp-out program, along with open houses, senior programs, and DARE outreach.
He said the department likely will be celebrating the promotion of a captain and two lieutenants in the next few months.
Cameras in the field
And he noted the department recently received body-worn cameras for each officer, which will soon be utilized.
In late 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy authorized $58 million in funding for the cameras, which were mandated statewide effective Jan. 1, 2021, contingent on state funding. New Jersey was one of only six states nationwide to mandate police body-worn cameras.
The cameras were favored by all Pascack Valley police chiefs surveyed by Pascack Press early last year. (See “Funds OK’d for equipping police with body cameras,” Pascack Press, Jan. 11, 2021.)