The executive director of the National Police Defense Foundation (NPDF) wantsmore attention to be paid to an act of vandalismthat was done to a Sept. 11 memorial.
Joseph Occhipinti examines damage done to part of a 9/11 monument. NPDF Executive Director Joseph Occhipinti said on April 18 that he is planning to write to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin.
“I am planning to ask the prosecutor if he will meet with me to see if anything can be done to make this a priority investigation. I am getting calls from law enforcement personnel nationwide who are outraged at what happened and they are asking me if the prosecutor is going to do anything about this,” Occhipinti said.
Occhipinti said he had not heard from Freehold Township police as to whether there are any leads or suspects in the case that began April 12.
According to a press release from the NPDF, the foundation commissioned sculptor Franco Minervini to create the foundation’s Sept. 11 memorial. The memorial, which is 90 percent complete, is currently at Minervini’s studio on Weaverville Road near Business Route 33 and Kozloski Road in Freehold Township.
When the NPDF’s Sept. 11 memorial is completed it will be placed adjacent to the New Jersey VietnamVeteransMemorial at the PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel.
The NPDF’s Sept. 11 memorial is a 14- foot high wall of Indiana limestone that features a carved American flag unfurled like a protective blanket against the twin towers of the World Trade Center. To the right of the buildings stands a full-size statue of a police officer at attention with a police dog at his side.
According to the press release, the sculpture represents the 37 Port Authority Police Department police officers, one Port Authority Police Department K-9 police dog and 23 New York Police Department officers who were killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001, while responding to a terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
The NPDF said it is the policeman sculpture that was defaced during the evening of April 12. According to the press release, the perpetrators used a blunt object to damage the policeman’s face and the visor of his uniform cap.
Occhipinti said it has not been determined if the damage that was done to the sculpture can be repaired.
“What happened to thismemorial really offends the law enforcement community. We have worked on this for so long and we were getting ready to move it to the arts center.What was done to thememorial was intentional,” he said.
The NPDF is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who vandalized its Sept. 11 police memorial.
Anyone with information about the vandalismmay contact the Freehold Township Police Department at (732) 462-7500.

