Fort Lee Police Department

The [http://www.fortleepolice.org Fort Lee Police Department ] established in 1904 is a professional police organization responsible for law enforcement for the Borough of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Fort Lee is located in the south-eastern part of Bergen County, and is also the home of the George Washington Bridge.

The Fort Lee Police Department has been headed by Chief Thomas O. Ripoli since July 14, 2004.

The main divisions of the department are the Patrol Division, Detective Bureau and the Traffic Division. The current table of organization calls for 112 sowrn officers. [Fort Lee Borough Ordinace § 90-2. Formation and rank. [Amended 5-23-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-15; 6-28-2001 by Ord. No. 2000-32]

Officers Killed in the Line of Duty

Since the department’s beginning in 1904, only two Fort Lee Police Officers have been killed in the line of duty:Police Officer William T. Birch was gunned down while responding to a hold up alarm at the Riviera Motel on Route 4 on September 4, 1966. The murderer who shot and killed Officer Birch was originally sentenced to death in 1967, but that sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972. The murderer was paroled in 1982. In 2005 at the age of 79, Officer Birch’s murderer was arrested for attempting to sell an illegal handgun in Massachusetts. He was returned to prison in New Jersey for violation of his parole. He died in prison 2 years later at the age of 79. [http://www.odmp.org/officer/1863-police-officer-william-t.-birch]

Police Officer Kevin R. Greener was killed in a motorcycle accident on August 9, 1999 while travelling to a patrol tactics class he was teaching. [http://www.odmp.org/officer/15283-police-officer-kevin-robert-greener] Officer Greener was formerly a sergeant with the Essex County Police Department, but left when the department was disbanded. Officer Greener also worked for the West Caldwell Police Department for two years, prior to settling down with the Fort Lee Police Department in 1993. Aside from being a devensive tactics instructor for the department, Officer Greener was also a member of the department's Emergency Services Unit.

Emergency Services Unit (ESU)

The Fort Lee Police Department's Emergency Services Unit is a team of 20 to 25 officers who are responsible for a multitude of emergency services throughout the Borough of Fort Lee to include, but not limited to: Search warrant executions, barricaded subjects, bomb threats, high risk arrests, hostage negotiations, large disorderly crowds, etc. The ESU officers train together on a regular basis and are required to pass an annual physical fitness test. Currently ESU officers have other primary duties (Patrol, Traffic, and Detective) and are deployed and utilized as needed. The standard issue weapon for the ESU is a Heckler & Koch UMP45.