New Fort Lee Police Chief, Deputy Police Chief Sworn In

With Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli set to retire Dec. 31, Capt. Keith Bendul and Capt. Timothy Ford will assume their duties as Chief and Deputy Chief, respectively, of the Fort Lee Police Department on Jan. 1.

Dozens of police officers and chiefs from Fort Lee and other towns, along with family and friends, packed Fort Lee's Borough Hall Thursday, as the Mayor and Council swore in a new police chief and deputy police chief. As expected, Capt. Keith Bendul was appointed Chief of the Fort Lee Police Department, and Capt. Timothy Ford was appointed Deputy Police Chief. Their appointments are effective Jan. 1, 2013, with current Fort Lee Police Chief Thomas Ripoli having reached the mandatory retirement age and therefore leaving the post he has served in since 2004 at the end of the year. The entire Mayor and Council presented Ripoli with a plaque “in recognition of his 41 years of service to people of Fort Lee,” words which Sokolich called “so …

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9/11 A Decade Later: Fort Lee Remembers

9/11 Stories: A Town Responds

Former Police Chief Thomas Tessaro recounts 9/11

Retired Fort Lee Chief of Police Thomas Tessaro smiled as he recounted a memory from that fateful day, Sept. 11, 2001. "We instructed everyone to drop their weapons into the box before they boarded the bus," Tessaro said. "We told them they would all have immunity as long as they removed from their bodies all weapons. You can’t even imagine the things we collected in that box." Almost immediately after the planes hit the World Trade Center, all traffic was closed to the George Washington Bridge, and Fort Lee police came out in full force to redirect traffic away from the bridge. But Tessaro also had to deal with a traffic problem of a different sort.  "Thousands of people were congregating at Bridge Plaza because everyone was letting their…

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Robyn Nadel

1:12 pm on Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Thoughtful and reflective stories of Sept. 11, Anne. Praying for peace and for all those who endured.   more ›