Instructor of the Month
Officer Joseph F. Sitty Jr.
"Being able to work with kids and having the opportunity to watch them grow up to become successful young men and women. It’s the biggest reward a person could ask for." - Officer Joseph Sitty Jr.
Officer Joseph F. Sitty Jr. is a 25 year veteran of the North Bergen Police Department, retiring from active duty on August 1, 2012. He first started his career in law enforcement with the Hudson County Police Department in August of 1987. Upon being hired by the Hudson County Police Department, he attended the Basic Police Academy training class #59 at the Bergen County Police and Fire Academy in Mahwah New Jersey. Upon graduating from the academy, Officer Sitty worked the patrol division for one month with the Hudson County Police Department.
On January 22, 1988, Officer Sitty was then hired by the North Bergen Police Department. For the first seven and a half years of his career with the North Bergen Police Department, Officer Sitty was assigned to the patrol division. In 1996 Officer Sitty was selected to attend D.A.R.E. Officer Training at the Bergen County Law & Public Safety Institute in Mahwah to become a school-based police officer. Upon completion of the training, Officer Sitty was reassigned to the Community Services, Juvenile Aid Bureau, and S.R.O. Unit.
Upon taking on the duties as the lead school-based police officer for the North Bergen Police Department, he first provided instruction to the students of four of the seven schools in the township. He worked with 5th grade students from Robert Fulton School, Lincoln School, Kennedy School and St. John’s Nepomucene School. In September 1999, Officer Sitty expanded the program to include the 8th grade students at the same schools. Throughout all the years, Officer Sitty has worked with 23 classes and approximately 650 students a year, and has graduated more than 11,000 students from the North Bergen community. Since the beginning of his career, Officer Sitty had the opportunity to work with students in Franklin School, Horace Mann School and McKinley School. Officer Sitty also organizes field trips to New Jersey Nets basketball games for the students in his 5th grade program. Officer Sitty was also a key organizer of North Bergen’s Junior Police Academy.
In 2004 Officer Sitty was selected as Volunteer of the Year by the State of New Jersey Coalition Against Drug Abuse (Hudson County winner).
On September 1, 2012 Retired Officer Sitty was rehired as the Township of North Bergen’s Community Educational Coordinator/Drug Prevention Instructor. The first year at this new position retired Officer Sitty continued to do the program for the townships 5th grade students. During 2012, retired Officer Sitty was trained as a L.E.A.D. (Law Enforcement Against Drugs) Instructor and L.E.A.D. trainer in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In September of 2013 the Township of North Bergen decided to switch their drug prevention program from the D.A.R.E. Program to the L.E.A.D. Program, making North Bergen one of the first communities in the State of New Jersey to incorporate proven effective curriculum in the classrooms. Retired Officer Sitty has been a North Bergen L.E.A.D. Instructor since its inception in 2013. Retired Officer Sitty instructs at all six elementary schools. Those schools include Robert Fulton School, Horace Mann School, Lincoln School, Franklin School, McKinley School and Kennedy School. His instruction involves all 5th grade students, 24 classes a week and anywhere between 580 to 620 students a year.
If you ask retired Officer Sitty what he likes best about his job as the townships L.E.A.D. Instructor, he will reply time and time again. “Being able to work with kids and having the opportunity to watch them grow up to become successful young men and women. It’s the biggest reward a person could ask for.” Retired Officer Sitty also stated “I'm very thankful to Mayor Nicholas J. Sacco, Commissioner Allen Pascual, and Chief Robert Dowd for allowing me to work with the students of North Bergen and to work my magic with the kids, into my retirement.”
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