2 Fair Lawn Cops Sworn In, Others Receive Awards

FAIR LAWN, N.J. — Two Fair Lawn High School graduates were sworn in Tuesday a at council meeting as the latest officers of the Fair Lawn Police Department.

Justin DiGuglielmo, 28, is a 2006 graduate of Fair Lawn High School. He served as a Class 1 special officer with the Hackensack Police Department from 2010 to 2013, a Class 2 special officer with the Hoboken POlice from 2013-2015, and a police officer with the New Jersey Institute of Technology Police Department in Newark for the past two years. He is assigned to a field training officer in the patrol division.

Thomas Spear, 27, is a 2007 graduate of Fair Lawn High School. He was employed by the Fair Lawn Department of Public Works from 2011 until earlier this year. He a member and former captain with the Fair Lawn Heavy Rescue Unit and was a lieutenant with the Fair Lawn Auxiliary Police. He is training at the Passaic County Police Academy in Wayne.

Several officers received awards from Chief Glen Cauwels at the meeting.

• Officer Brian Rypkema was awarded an honorable service medal for his actions on May 22, 2014 when he initiated a motor vehicle stop that led to the arrest of three people who had committed burglaries in Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook earlier that day, police said.
• Officer Stephen Buskiewicz was awarded a life saving medal and Officer Michael Franco and Sgt. Kenneth Cavanagh were awarded citations for their actions on April 10, 2015 when they responded to Fair Lawn Police Officer Robert Manning’s residence on a report of his wife, Jackie, who was found unresponsive. The officers revived Jackie, who attended the ceremony.
• Officer Nicholas Snyder was awarded an honorable service medal and Detective Anthony Lugo was awarded a citation for their actions on July 18, 2015 after they discovered a burglary in progress at a business on Broadway in Elmwood Park and caught the suspect after a foot chase into Fair Lawn.
• Officer Juan Rodriguez was awarded a life saving medal and officers John Rovetto, Edward Egan, and Luis Vasquez were awarded citations for their actions on Nov. 23, 2015 after responding to a working house fire on Berkshire Road where they assisted a resident from the home. They propped up a wooden bed frame up and used it as a ladder to assist Rodriguez onto a roof to help the resident escape out of a second-floor window.

The police department earned re-accreditation through the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Under the guidance of Lt. Brian LaRosa, the accreditation program requires agencies to comply with best practice standards in five basic areas: Administrative, personnel, operations, investigative, and arrestee/detainee. The department was initially accredited in 2013. Participating in the program is voluntary.

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Photos:

Newly sworn in Officers Thomas Spear, left, and Justin DiGuglielmo

Chief Glen Cauwels and Lt. Brian LaRosa hold the certificate of re-accreditation, joined by officers from Fair Lawn Police and the Fair Lawn mayor and council.

Photo credit: Fair Lawn Police Department