On February 28, the Verona Police Department promoted Sergeant Anthony O’Connor to its vacant lieutenant position after he received the top score on the state lieutenant exam. At Monday’s Town Council meeting, Chief Christopher Kiernan talked about O’Connor’s substantial background in law enforcement.
O’Connor is a third-generation police officer and supervisor. A lifelong Verona resident, Lt. O’Connor graduated Verona High School in 2000 and went on to Fairleigh Dickinson University. He then worked in the IT field until he was hired by the Verona Police Department in 2006. He graduated from the Essex County College Police Academy and served in various patrol shifts through 2014. While in the Patrol Division, Lt. O’Connor was chosen to be a member of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office’s Cyber Crimes Task Force.
O’Connor was appointed to the VPD’s Detective Bureau in 2014 where, Chief Kiernan said, he was involved in several notable cases: A fatal hit-and-run pedestrian accident that led to the successful identification conviction of the suspect; a multi-jurisdictional task force that brought down a large home invasion and burglary crew; and numerous other burglary investigations. Lt. O’Connor also initiated and subsequently played a major role in a fraud investigation that brought to justice an organized crime ring involved in money laundering and racketeering.
In late 2016 O’Connor was promoted to sergeant and went back into patrol on several shifts. The chief praised O’Connor for the way he responded to a call about a suicidal male who had fired at responding officers. “O’Connor and his squad safely took the subject into custody without incident,” Kiernan told the Council, “and got him to a hospital to obtain the assistance he required.
Chief Kiernan said that Lt. O’Connor has been involved in a wide range of VPD projects, including an initiative to transfer, digitize and restructure all of the force’s school emergency plans.
Lt. O’Connor is certified as a financial crime investigator and is an FBI/Department of Justice-trained crisis negotiator. He has received advanced training certificates in many specialties and crime investigations techniques, including Terrorism & Technology, Online Undercover Investigations, and Identifying Warning Signs of School Violence, as well as Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Awareness.
He has received multiple Verona Rescue Squad lifesaving awards, multiple PBA Merit Awards and also was recognized by
the U.S Department of Justice and FBI for being a member of a joint investigation involving a robbery ring 2014.
As a Lieutenant he is now assigned to the B Squad overnight shift where, Chief Kiernan said, “he will continue his excellent police service for the residents of Verona.”
Photos By: Ed Carattini Jr.
