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Retiring Fair Lawn Auxiliary Officer Goes Out As Chief

FAIR LAWN, N.J. -- A retiring auxiliary police officer from Fair Lawn ended his 51-year career with an appointment to chief of the changing department.

Special Chief Nicholas Magarelli (left) and Auxiliary Chief Kenneth Pfeiffer receive awards from Mayor John Cosgrove (center) and Fair Lawn officials.

Special Chief Nicholas Magarelli (left) and Auxiliary Chief Kenneth Pfeiffer receive awards from Mayor John Cosgrove (center) and Fair Lawn officials.

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Fair Lawn PD

Kenneth Pfeiffer also was honored -- along with Special Police Chief Nicholas Magarelli -- by Fair Lawn Emergency Management Coordinator Wendy Alvarez for years of service and leadership during a council meeting.

Fair Lawn's auxiliary force is being reconstituted as Special Class 1 police under Magarelli in order to operate full time.

The unit was first known as the Fair Lawn Police Reserves when the borough created it in 1954 under the Office of Civil Defense and Disaster Control (CDDC).

The state reorganized the CDDC in 1980 and renamed the organization the Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

The Police Reserves, who worked only under a state of emergency or directly with a police officer, were renamed the Auxiliary Police.

The new unit will continue to assist police at events -- including parades, carnivals and fireworks -- in municipal court, directing traffic and in other towns when needed -- under the authority of the borough police department, officials said.

They can issue summonses but can't carry guns.

All members also must be graduated from the Bergen County police academy at the county Law & Public Safety Institute in Mahwah.

Fifteen Fair Lawn Special Class 1 Police Officers graduated from the academy's Special Law Enforcement Class of 2016 earlier this month.

All are former Fair Lawn auxiliary officers.

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