Crime & Safety

Fort Lee Police Lieutenant, 22-year Veteran Receives Monthly 'Chief's Award'

Fort Lee Police: Chief's Award recipient for May is Lt. Stanley Zon

Lt. Stanley Zon, a 22-year veteran of the Fort Lee Police Department, is the recipient of Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli’s monthly “Chief’s Award” for May, police announced this week.

Zon, a native of Passaic who later moved to Clifton, began his police career with the Little Falls Police Department in 1989, serving in the Patrol Division. In 1993, Zon transferred to the Fort Lee police department, where he began serving in the Uniform Patrol Division, according to the department.

Since that time, Zon has worked on all shifts in the department, attained the rank of Sergeant in 2001 and ultimately that of Lieutenant in 2005, police said. 

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In the Uniform Patrol Division, Zon has received commendations for numerous arrests, including narcotics distribution, armed robbery, burglary and major credit card counterfeiting. 

Zon is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Infantry Unit based in Picatinney Arsenal, NJ, according to the police department.

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In 1995, while serving in the Fort Lee Police Department, Zon received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Montclair State University.

Zon has served a tour on loan with the Bergen County Prosecutors Office Narcotics Task Force, after which he was assigned to the General Investigations Division as a Detective and then as a Detective in the Narcotics Division. From 1993 to 1999 he also served on the Emergency Services Unit, police said.

One of Zon’s most memorable moments during his career, according to the police department, was his work during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when, as a newly promoted road sergeant, he was assigned to a squad of police officers on foot patrol near the George Washington Bridge. 

“[Zon] witnessed the true professionalism of Officers, diligent and attentive in handling thousands of these displaced citizens in the Borough while standing tall to the catastrophe, death and destruction to brother officers, firefighters and even family and friends in New York,” according to Fort Lee Police Department press release.

As a newly promoted Lieutenant in 2005, Zon commanded a shift of young officers on the midnight tour when they responded to a call of an active shooting scene and homicide at the Holiday Inn in Fort Lee. Officers secured the hotel, evacuated several floors of guests, interviewed witnesses, located and secured crime scenes and made the necessary arrests, according to Fort Lee police.

"High stress and Traumatic moments, and what officers do under those circumstances are seldom known by the public," Zon said of the incident.

Ripoli created his “Chief’s Award” shortly after he took over the duties of Fort Lee Police Chief in 2004. The monthly award honors individual officers for their years of commitment to the department, as well as their contributions to the community. Each month, Ripoli issues one administrative award to a member of the Fort Lee Police Department.

“I pick an officer who has time on the job,” Ripoli has said of the monthly award. “I look at his awards, his work ethic, sick time, his loyalty to the town and the extra that he does. It’s a hard decision honestly, because there are a lot of candidates, and you try to pick from that. And you miss people along the way also.”

Zon is currently assigned as a Lieutenant on the 4 x 12 shift Uniform Patrol and is active in The Fort Lee PD Honor Guard, police said.


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