45°
“I’m very honored that Mayor [Nicholas] Sacco and Commissioner [Theresa] Ferraro have shown this amount of faith and confidence in me, and I’m excited to begin this next chapter of my career,” Dowd, 41, said after Friday’s swearing-in at the township Municipal Building.
“As police chief, I plan to reach out to the community to create a sense of collective efficacy and bring us back to the era of community policing,” he said.
Sacco called Dowd “the ideal choice to lead our police department.”
Dowd joined the department in 1994 and has since received 10 exceptional services awards. As a sergeant, he was given the Knights of Columbus Shield Award for catching an armed man in a hostage situation at a local bank.
As a lieutenant, Dowd was recognized by FBI Director Robert Mueller for Exceptional Service in the Public Interest for helping identify and arrest a career criminal who had robbed a total of ten banks in New York and New Jersey.
As a captain, he initiated an investigation with members of the Detective Bureau that led to the seizure of $700,000 in cash from a suspected drug dealer.
Dowd is a certified police academy instructor and has also been qualified as a subject matter expert for the NJ Department of Personnel, for which he helped create promotional exams.
Dowd, who officials said is a lifelong North Bergen resident, attended Horace Mann and North Bergen High School and was graduated Summa cum Laude from New Jersey City University with a degree in criminal justice. He is completing a Master’s of Science in the same discipline.
He holds a board seat on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and is a volunteer basketball coach for North Bergen’s Recreation Department.
PHOTO ABOVE courtesy Philip Swibinski
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bergenfield and receive free news updates.
