Following the retirements of four of their colleagues this year, three veterans of the West Windsor Police Department have assumed new leadership roles. In addition, four new patrol officers have been hired to fill the vacancies created.
Brian Melnick, now a lieutenant, and Thomas Moody and Matthew Kemp, now sergeants, took their oaths of offices for their new promotions in front of a standing-room only crowd at the West Windsor Council meeting on December 7. New officers Justin Insalaco, Kyle Brown, Christopher Van Ness, and Walter Silcox were also sworn in during the ceremony.
The new hires and promotions come as a result of the retirements of Lieutenant Carl Walsh, Sergeant James Carvalho, Officer Donald Edwards, and Officer Gregory Glassen.
“As the experienced employees leave, it is imperative that they are replaced with competent and knowledgeable people,” said Chief Joe Pica during the ceremony. “I am very confident that the seven officers here tonight are the right people for the job at the right time.”
Melnick, who has been promoted to lieutenant, attended the Somerset Police Academy. He was on the dean’s list at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in the Administration of Justice. He moved on to Seton Hall University, where he graduated — with a 4.0 grade point average, never earning a grade below an A — with a master’s degree in education administration in 2000.
He was hired by West Windsor in 1989 and served as a patrol officer until 2002, when he was transferred to the detective unit. From 2002 to 2005, he was assigned to the detective bureau, where he performed an array of criminal investigations including robbery, theft, sexual assault, and homicides. He was promoted to patrol sergeant in 2005. In 2008, he was assigned as the sergeant in charge of all investigations and took over as the commanding officer of the detective bureau when Lieutenant Dave Mansue retired.
“Brian was chosen as the newest lieutenant not only because of his abundance of police experience and job knowledge, but because of his ability to deal with people in a friendly and compassionate manner,” said Pica.
Melnick lives in Hamilton Square with his wife, Stacey, and their two children, Samantha and Danny.
Moody has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Ocean County Community College and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from West Chester University. He was a seasonal police officer in Seaside Heights before being hired in 1990.
After working eight years in the patrol section, Moody was transferred to the community policing unit. During his assignment there, he served as the liaison and coordinator of the domestic violence victim response team and was an original organizer of the regional victim response team, which also includes the East Windsor and Princeton police departments and Womanspace.
Moody has also served as an instructor for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s child passenger safety technician course and served as the police department’s representative on the West Windsor senior center advisory council.
He was an original instructor for the department’s R.A.D. (Resisting Aggression Defense) program, and was a defensive driving instructor at High School South.
In September, 2005, he was assigned as the department’s first Canine K-9 police officer with his canine partner Eddy. Both he and Eddy are active members of the state’s Detect and Render K9 Task Force, which responds to and assists with homeland security assignments.
Moody, who was promoted to patrol sergeant, will be assigned to the night shift beginning in January. He lives in Jackson with his wife, Megan, and two children, Riley and Callan.
Kemp, who graduated from Notre Dame High School, has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Mercer County Community College and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in administrative science.
In 1991 he was awarded the distinction of Drill Sergeant of the Year, while serving in the United States Army Reserves.
Prior to coming to West Windsor, he was a patrol officer in Pennington and a detective with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, assigned to the police academy. He was hired as a patrol officer in West Windsor in 1995. After working patrol for 10 years, Kemp was transferred to the detective bureau in 2005, where he conducted hundreds of investigations and crime scenes.
Kemp also serves as the team leader with the department’s special response team and is the coordinator of the West Windsor police honor guard. He is also a police department firearms instructor and is qualified as a police department sniper.
In the fall of 2007, Kemp was part of the Operation Cease Fire Task Force, which responded to and investigated all shooting incidents within Mercer County. Kemp was promoted to Patrol Sergeant.
The four new officers in the West Windsor Police Department beat 160 other applicants for their jobs.
Van Ness, 26, grew up in Hamilton and comes from a family of police officers, including his brother, who is a Hamilton police officer. He graduated from Mercer County Community College with an associate’s degree in computer science. He recently graduated from the Mercer County Police Academy, finishing first in his class, with the highest academic average.
Silcox, 28, who also grew up in Hamilton, graduated from the Richard Stockton State College with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Prior to coming to West Windsor, he worked as a sheriff’s officer in Burlington County. While attending the Mercer County Police Academy, he won the physical fitness award.
He finished second out of 162 candidates on West Windsor’s own police test, scoring high in both the academic and physical fitness aspects of the testing. He currently lives in Easthampton.
Insalaco, 20, is the youngest police officer ever hired by West Windsor. He is working toward a degree in political science at Rutgers University. He finished third academically in his police academy class. He worked in Point Pleasant Beach as a police officer prior to his hiring by West Windsor. He lives in Jackson.
Brown, 27, who lives in Plainsboro, is a WW-P native. He graduated from High School South in 2000. While there, he was named Most Valuable Player in 1998 and 1999 for the boys’ basketball team.
He earned All-Conference, All-American, and All-Region honors in basketball while playing basketball at the College of New Jersey, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication.
He also graduated from Mercer County Police Academy with the highest physical fitness award.
