Joey Fields at a ceremony marking his promotion to police sergeant in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A retired Red Bank police officer who’s a product of borough schools will be returning to work as a school resource officer, following action by the council last week.

In other RBPD news, the ranks of retired officers is slated to grow by two.

Captain Errico Vescio manning the kitchen at National Night Out in 2021, above; below, Lieutenant Juan Sardo in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Under a resolution adopted by the council Wednesday night, the first newly created SRO job will go to Joey Fields, with two other openings to be filled.

Fields, who grew up in Red Bank and attended borough schools, retired at the rank of sergeant in February, 2020, after 28 years of service.

For about eight years, Fields served as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program officer in the borough’s schools, where “he had a really good rapport with the kids,” said Darren McConnell, who serves as both police chief and interim borough administrator.

“I recruited him for a couple of months to try to get him back,” McConnell said. “I think he’s a perfect fit for the position.”

The program, approved by the council in September, will begin January 2 with Fields as the sole SRO providing armed security in both the middle and primary schools, Superintendent Jared Rumage told redbankgreen Monday.

When fully implemented, three armed guards will provide security: one for each school, and the third to substitute when the first two are not available, he said.

A community alert about the program is slated to go out Tuesday, Rumage said.

Under state Attorney General guidelines, SROs must be retired police officers who have completed a one-week training and certification program for the job that includes instruction on diversity issues and de-escalation training.

The SRO are not to provide student discipline, McConnell said in July.

“Their primary purpose is to essentially harden the target of a school, especially in a critical incident, to respond immediately,” he said. “And beyond that, just to have a presence in the school every day.”

In other RBPD news, Captain Errico Vescio and Lieutenant Juan Sardo will retire this month, McConnell said.

Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, who serves as police commissioner, praised Vescio as “a calm leader.”

Vescio, who served for 24 years and commanded the patrol department, is also a volunteer firefighter, president of the West Side Hose Company and “one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet,” said Triggiano.

“He’s such a helpful person,” she said. “I know he’ll continue serving our town in other capacities.”

Sardo, who put in 25 years with RBPD, “exemplifies being a community police officer,” she said. He’s “a doer who really was involved in the department in every way he could be.”

In one of his final proclamations as mayor, Pasquale Menna designated December 30 as “a day of celebration and thanks” for Vescio and Sardo.

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