New Morris Twp. Police Chief Reilly: It's What I've Always Dreamed of Doing

Morris Township's acting chief of police, Dennis Reilly, can take the "acting" off his title on Wednesday evening and he couldn't be happier about it. 

"How many people get to do what they've always dreamed of doing? How many people can say they don't have a single day where they're not happy about going to work?" Reilly asked. "Then, to reach the pinnacle of your profession, in this case, becoming chief of a great department–I mean, pinch me."

Although Reilly had to be sworn-in on Jan.1 in order to take command of the department–previous chief Timothy Quinn retired and took the job of Township Administrator– the formal swearing-in will take place Wed., Jan. 19 at the township committee meeting at the municipal building, beginning at 8:00 p.m. 

"I'm in my 24th year," Reilly said of his police career. "My father was a police officer in Harding and Morris Plains. Without a doubt he was my role model and my hero. I think he may have had aspirations for me going federal. One of the first job interviews I had was with the CIA; in fact I made it to a second interview, but I realized I wanted to be a local cop."

In 1987, Reilly competed with over 200 applicants for a position on the township police force, coming in at #1 on the list. He was a patrolman from 1987 to 1995, with temporary stints in the detective bureau. Promotions to  patrol sergeant, patrol lieutenant, detective lieutenant and captain followed.

 Reilly said that the life of a police officer's family is not always easy and he pointed to the support he receives at home as a key part of his success. 

 "I wouldn't be here without my wife. She's been nothing but supportive. As I was going through the ranks, I had to take various promotional exams and she gave me the space I needed to do it. If the phone rings at all hours or I'm out for extended periods of time–I was at the FBI National Academy for 10 weeks in 2010–she never complains."

Asked about his range of experiences in the department, Reilly said. "In the normal job of a police officer, nobody calls when everything is good. They call you when something goes wrong. I've done death notifications, I've seen people who've been badly injured or died, I've seen people who reached their breaking point and took their own lives. But that's not just me. All police officers will see these kinds of things during the course of their careers.

"I've also had a number of life-saving calls where people who had no pulse were revived and investigations where we were able to solve crimes and recover property."

The new chief is especially proud of having won a Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award his first year on patrol. "Drunk driving prevention has always been a priority of mine. I've had people come back to me and thank me for arresting them. I remember one case in particular where a man, after court, came up and shook my hand and thanked me."

 Reilly faces a number of challenges in his new role, particularly budgetary issues. He said there are 8 holes in the organizational chart that used to represent the department, one dating back to the summer of 2009. The eighth is Reilly himself.  He has had to face the difficult reality that, with Quinn's retirement and his own promotion, the department was down yet another member.

"I'm waiting to see how the budget shapes up. I hope to know more by the summer," he said. "In today's times we have to find more efficient ways to use the resources we have." 

"We've been able to deal with it. For example, we used to have two crime-prevention officers.  Now we have one." The second, Reilly said, is back on patrol. A traffic safety officer, too, has been moved to patrol. "You have to have patrols on the road to respond to calls for service," Reilly said. "That has not been compromised." 

Despite such issues, Reilly said he is eager to get started. The township police, he said, "has always had a tremendous reputation.We go above and beyond in public service. We go above and beyond in investigations– we're not report takers, we are investigators. We pride ourselves on our work product."

And as for the Wednesday night swearing in ceremony, "I'll be wearing my class A uniform with my family holding a Bible," he said.