The North Bergen Police Department welcomed six new officers to the force today, three of whom are transfers from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office.
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The Township Commissioner Chambers were packed as friends and family welcomed Emily Ramirez, Vanessa Espinoza, Biron Mendoza, George Somarriba, Salvatore Giuca and Bryan Suarez to the police department.
Chief Robert Dowd thanked Mayor Nick Sacco and his administration for making public safety a top priority. He echoed that sentiment when speaking to Hudson County View, revealing that the department is actually at 125 officers, 5 over 100 percent capacity, in anticipation of upcoming retirements.
Allen Pascual, the North Bergen Commissioner of Public Safety, commended the department for doing a good job of keeping the community safe.
Freeholder Anthony Vainieri, who sits on the freeholders’ public safety committee, touched on the fact that Ramirez, Mendoza and Somarriba were transfers from the sheriff’s office, meaning they are ready to hit the streets right away.
Noting that he knows each new recruit to some degree, Sacco called being a police officer “a noble profession,†despite the anti-police rhetoric that exists in other parts of the country.
Sacco later told us that the North Bergen policy that says officers must live in the township has been paying dividends.
After the invocation, Sacco swore in the six new officers.