New Face on the Force: Justin Rizzo

One of new Caldwell Police Chief James Bongiorno's stated goals is to help the community get to know the department's officers better. Patch will share a short profile of each of the new and newly promoted members of the CPD in a series of stories. 

Earlier this week, Patch featured Patrol Officer Michael Kraynanski. Today, meet newly hired Patrol Officer Justin Rizzo, who was sworn-in on New Year's Day, during the borough's annual Reorganization Meeting.

Justin grew up in Vernon and has lived there most of his life. As a young boy his father was injured in a fall and Justin’s entry into manhood needed to be accelerated. He was a great athlete but in order to help his family, which included his younger sister, mother and father, he stopped playing sports and found a job to help support his family. He graduated from Vernon Township High School and attended college at County College of Morris where he received an associate degree in Business Administration. He was accepted into the Passaic County Police Academy as an alternate route candidate paying his own way. He attended the academy in June of 2010 and graduated in December of 2010, ninth in his class. His cousin is a New York Police Department officer, and the stories and situations that were shared with Justin by his cousin were a big part of the reason as to why he wanted to become a police officer.

This bio was read by Caldwell Councilman and Public Safety Committee Chairman Peter Murray at a ceremony honoring the Caldwell Police Department held at Caldwell College last week.