Brick Township Mourning Police Officer Lost To Cancer

BRICK, NJ -- The Brick Township Police Department is mourning the death of Officer Kristopher DeMarco, according to township officials.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the family of Brick Township Police Officer Kris DeMarco who passed away yesterday. RIP #213,” the township said in a post on its Facebook page.

The police department said DeMarco, 38, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer in a post on the department’s Facebook page.

DeMarco was hired by the Brick Township Police Department on Aug. 5, 2003. He attended and graduated from the Ocean County Police Academy Class No. 81, according to the post.

DeMarco primarily worked the midnight shift, where he was a field training officer, the department said. He also served as a background investigator and as an assistant to the department’s training unit. DeMarco also had been a member of the Brick Township Police Department’s Special Emergency Response Team since January 2007 and was assigned to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Operations Group from 2009-2010, the post said.

DeMarco also was an officer in the township’s Policeman’s Benevolent Association Local 230, serving as its financial secretary on the Executive Board and he was an active member of numerous charitable committees.

:Kris earned the Policeman of the Year Award in 2007,” the deparmtne said. “He also earned several other awards and chief’s certificates during the course of his decorated career, including the Meritorious Service Award, Grand Cordon Award, Superstorm Sandy Award, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Douglas C. King Award, and numerous letters of commendation from the citizens that he served.”

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home, 20 Mule Road, Toms River, the department said.