HOWELL – As the New Year began, new officers joined the department, and others were promoted.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden led the swearing in and promotions of many officers in the department during the January reorganization meeting, sharing that “Howell Township by far has the best police department, but don’t tell my officers that. They are the best law enforcement agency in the county.”
Among the promotions was Lieutenant Thomas Rizzo to the role of captain. Rizzo served as commander of the department’s Crime Suppression Unit, directly responsible for responding to the heroin crisis, and served over 300 search warrants since the unit was formed in 2014.
Officers were also reassigned to detective status: Det. Cpl. Michael Pavlick, Det. Ryan Richards, Det. Sgt Jack Headley and Det. David Gilliland.
The police force will also welcome a new patrolwoman and former Howell Police Explorers member Stephanie Regina. She served as a state trooper in Maryland for three years, and is undergoing the 20-week New Jersey certification at the Monmouth County Police Academy.
Sheriff Golden announced that Howell Police will start using Special Law Enforcement Class II Officers as actual police to assist the full-time force with processing prisoners, court security and other details. Class II Officers are essentially part-time officers, but can exercise the full powers and duties of a full-time officer while they are on duty.
