In their early 20s, Brian Melnick, Patrick McCormick, and Patrick O’Brien joined the West Windsor Police Department together on August 10, 1989. A quarter-century later, the trio have all recently retired. All three had reached the rank of lieutenant after beginning as patrol officers. Lieutenant Robert Garofalo, the fourth member of the 1989 class, is currently the second most senior officer, behind Chief Joseph Pica.
As the new retirees prepare for their second acts, they also reflect on how the nature of police work has changed as West Windsor has evolved over the past 25 years.
“The town has grown tremendously, the needs have grown tremendously, but the police department has not,” says Patrick O’Brien, who plans to start his own home improvement business (see story, page 1). The four officers who joined in 1989 increased the department’s size to 43. Four more additions around 1998 increased the total personnel to 47, but O’Brien says there have been no additions since then.
“When I first started in the WWPD, very often your workday is what you made it,” says O’Brien. “Most of the work that was generated as a young patrol officer was work that you generated. We found things, we investigated them.”
The difference, O’Brien explains, is initiating investigations as opposed to reacting. The example he gives is rather than the phone ringing and a resident informing the police of a suspicious-looking car, officers on patrol would have already realized the car does not belong.
“I don’t think we are in a bad place, but it would be nice to have more additional [personnel] to deal with things proactively as opposed to reactively,” says O’Brien. “I think we’re still doing okay with the manpower we have.”
“I think the population has doubled since we started,” Patrick McCormick says. “[The town] has grown more so with businesses. It got a lot busier.” But, he adds, “West Windsor has a long time before it gets built out,” and new officers will see a lot more changes.
While policing in general has undergone significant change since the late 1980s, two developments outside of West Windsor have also affected how the police department operates.
“Active shooter scenarios and homeland security brought tremendous change,” McCormick says. “Everybody in law enforcement, we’re all on the front lines.”
The scope of policing has broadened, says McCormick, and the township’s Princeton Junction train station is an example of major infrastructure that law enforcement pays careful attention to. People, mainly tourists, routinely take photos of the station. The township police identify suspicious activity and cooperate with the state police and the Department of Homeland Security.
“Years ago our biggest concern at the train station was stolen cars. That evolved into other issues that could go with major infrastructure regarding homeland security,” McCormick says.
“I’m very grateful for my career in West Windsor. I couldn’t ask for more,” McCormick says. “The leadership that I had, we had a close relationship with the Fire Department, the EMS. They are great people, it’s tough to walk away from that caliber of people. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
In 1993 McCormick was assigned to juvenile detective, and he was promoted to patrol sergeant in the fall of 2001. He became detective sergeant in 2004 before being promoted to patrol lieutenant in 2007.
In retirement, McCormick is drawing from his experience as a police officer and consulting for NJM Insurance Group as part of its Teen Driver Safety Program. A Jackson resident with high school-age twin daughters, McCormick has been visiting high schools to educate young teenagers on driving safety.
Brian Melnick will remain in law enforcement as a Public Safety officer for Princeton University. He worked as a detective for three years before being promoted to patrol sergeant in 2001, and then detective sergeant in 2006. In 2009 he was promoted to investigations lieutenant.
“I’m grateful to Chief Frank Cox for hiring me, and to Chief Pica for his guidance and leadership. They taught me a lot,” Melnick says. Cox, who became chief of police in 1980 and retired in 2001, died earlier this year.
“The department has maintained the same level of consistency [the past 25 years],” Melnick says. “I think they are the best municipal department in the county.”
