Crime & Safety

Fort Lee Police Honor Their Own, Others

The 8th annual Fort Lee Police Department Merit Board Awards Ceremony was Thursday—the day before Veterans Day

The held its 8th annual Merit Board ceremony Thursday in ’s council chambers, honoring their own for heroic deeds over the past year, as well as those of civilian members of the department, members and heads of other Borough departments and the public.

“It gives us an opportunity to recognize our brave men and women of our department and others who have performed valiantly during the prior period,” said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. “It also gives us and opportunity to brag about the incredible personnel that we have here in the Borough of Fort Lee, which, in my opinion, is the number one reason why we are as special a community as we are … We are the envy of many, many communities, and one of those reasons is the performance of our police department.”

Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli called the annual ceremony “an important event” and a “morale-booster for the rank and file.”

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“The Fort Lee Police Department is considered to be one of the best in the state of New Jersey, and after hearing tonight of the officers’ sometimes heroic actions, investigative work and their service to the community, I’m sure you will agree,” Ripoli said in his opening remarks.

Ripoli presented civilian Chief’s Awards to Capt. , Lt. , Det. , Det. , Police Officer and Police Officer . He also presented Chief’s Plaques to a virtual litany of Fort Lee Borough Department heads and members, including EMS, OEM, Ambulance, Fire Department and Fire Prevention and DPW, among many others.

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Ripoli also honored veterans who work for the borough, “in keeping with Veterans Day,” after honoring police department veterans at last year’s ceremony. On Thursday, Ripoli recognized Anthony J. Lione of the Fort Lee DPW (Marines), Robert Perelli of the Fort Lee Building Department (Air Force), Peter Hammer of the building department (Army), Ron Bisig of the Communication Department (Marines), Jose Martinez and Richard Simmons, both of the DPW and the U.S. Army and Don Sauvageot from Communication Repair (Marines).

Finally, Ripoli recognized a long list of police department civilian employees, about whom he said, “The bottom line is the police department does not function without these people.”

They were Rosalie Ludolph, Jean Sweeney, Kathy Patrick, William Zdanowski, Elizabeth Connell, Melissa Cuello, Felicia Quevedo, Karen Lione, John Mugan, Paul Voss, Ronald Bisig, Donna Iafelice, Leslie Huber, Wolfgang Krautman, John Ennis, Stephen Mackenzie, Barbara Sakowicz, Michael Woods, Diran Jebejian, Liana Palladino, John Klein and Marvin Cha.

Then it was Lt. Thomas Ottina’s turn to step to the microphone to present mostly police department awards, although he also presented Civilian Appreciation Awards to Karen Pointer, Carmelo Barila and Dean Wright whose calls to the police lead to such outcomes as a burglary arrest and saving a neighbor’s life.

Ottina, the presiding officer of the 11-member Merit Board, began his remarks by thanking the board for taking the time to serve and for doing “the right thing by giving these officers the awards that they deserve.”

“These officers step up when everybody else steps back,” Ottina said of Thursday’s award recipients. “They run in when everyone else runs out. They’re proud to stand up with their badge in honor when everyone else sits down. Each shift these officers go out, and whether or not they know it, say to themselves, ‘Nothing’s going to happen on my watch.’”

The police department’s first-ever Investigative Award went to members of the Detective Bureau for their investigation into a string of apartment burglaries in the borough and, as it turned out, other jurisdictions: Det./Sgt. Kenneth Porrino, Det./Sgt. Leonard Cottrell, Det. Howard Ginsburg, Det. Phillip Ross, Det. James Hunt, Det. Robert Eager, Det. Alejandro Lorenzo, Det. Douglas Cabler, Det. Jamie Cuevas, Det. Michele Morgenstern and Det. Edward Young.

Meritorious Service Medal recipients, whose actions lead to arrests in numerous cases, from aggravated assault, to illegal distribution of prescription medication and possessing and passing counterfeit money, included Det./Sgt. Kenneth Porrino, Det. Howard Ginsburg, Det. Alejandro Lorenzo, Det. Robert Eager, Police Officer Cory Horton, Police Officer Jay Makroulakis, Police Officer Dennis Pothos and Englewood Cliffs Police Chief Michael Cioffe.

The department’s Meritorious Service Unit Medal recipients were Lt. Stanley Zon, Sgt. Leonard Cottrell, Det. Robert Tilton, Police Officer Brett Howard, Police Officer Bryan Drumgoole, Police Officer Brian Cullen, Police Officer Dennis Conway, Police Officer Mark Radoian and Police Officer Christina Blue.

Life Saving Awards were given to Police Officers Matthew Hintze, Vassillios Triantafillou and Antonio Hernandez, all of whom took life-saving actions such as performing CPR on an unconscious woman and saving a choking victim.

Police Officer Thomas Ripoli, Jr. received the Letter of Service for his role in a criminal sexual conduct arrest.


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