New Face on the Force: Officer John Herbert

John Herbert realized a lifelong dream Monday when he was sworn-in as a probationary officer with the North Caldwell Police Department.

The 24-year-old’s oath was given by borough Mayor Joseph Alessi before a council meeting. Friends and family who came to witness the occasion spilled out of the council chambers and into the lobby.

Herbert said he aspired for most of his life to follow the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a policeman in Newark.

Herbert grew up in Bloomfield with his five sisters, four of whom were present at the swearing-in ceremony, along with his mother and 92-year-old grandmother.

He graduated from Bloomfield High School in 2006. Now a resident of Cedar Grove, Herbert has served as a dispatcher since 2009 and as an Essex County Deputy Sherriff since 2010. He’s just a couple of weeks from finishing up classes at the Essex County Police Academy.

He said he looks forward to finally being able to get on the road after working as a dispatcher for the borough’s police department.

“Everybody pretty much became like a family to me,” he said. “I’m ready to get out there and do what they were doing.”