By Jennifer Ortiz
Staff Writer
HOWELL — Municipal officials and Police Chief Andrew Kudrick welcomed Raymond Tillotson Jr. to the ranks of the Howell Police Department during a recent meeting of the Township Council.
Tillotson has lived in Howell since 1998. He is a graduate of Freehold Township High School, where he played baseball and football for the Patriots. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University and continued to participate in sports.
Upon graduating college, he worked in a local school with emotionally disturbed children and youngsters who had special needs.
“It’s a very tough job and I give all the credit to him for doing that,” Kudrick said during Tillotson’s swearing in ceremony at the June 13 council meeting.
Tillotson pursued a career in law enforcement and was hired by the New York Police Department (NYPD) in 2015. He subsequently applied for a position in Howell.
“He applied to us, interviewed, came out at the top and I hired him,” Kudrick said.
Tillotson repeated police academy training in New Jersey because he was only certified as a police officer in New York.
Kudrick said local police academy administrators were going to allow Tillotson to bypass some aspects of training, “but Ray, being the outstanding candidate and officer he is, decided he was not going to be different from his classmates and he did the entire academy … He did it even though he was an officer six months in, in the NYPD, and has probably seen more in six months in the NYPD than some police officers in smaller towns will see in their entire career.”
Kudrick said Tillotson was voted to be the class spokesman and addressed the audience when he and his fellow recruits graduated from training.
“One of the proudest things you can do as a chief is promote and hire, being able to move somebody along in the ranks and also giving someone the opportunity to become a police officer. Ray was one of my first hires,” said Kudrick, who has been Howell’s police chief since July 1, 2015.
Mayor Bill Gotto said that under Kudrick’s leadership, enhancements in the police department have been made, including adding police officers who are serving the community.
“It is a privilege to be able to bring a new police officer into the ranks in Howell,” Gotto said.
Tillotson thanked his fellow Howell officers, friends and family members for their support.
“It has been a long road getting here and it is beyond words to express how I feel to stand here in front of everybody, getting sworn in to the Howell Police Department. The last month out of the academy has been amazing and I expect the years to follow to be just as great,” he said.
During the council meeting, Kudrick remembered the passing of a former officer and noted the June 12 terrorist attack at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub that claimed the lives of 49 people and left dozens of individuals injured.
“We stand behind Orlando, especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community,” Kudrick said. “Whenever there is a crisis such as this, we look at our own policies to make sure we are at the top of our game, to make sure we are doing everything right. So this week … we are looking at some policies and tactics to make sure that if something like that ever happens in Howell, we address it in the most appropriate way.”
A moment of silence was observed in memory of the people who were killed in the Orlando nightclub attack.
“I ask you all to pray that at some point in our future, we are going to get the right people who are going to be able to come together and solve some real problems in this country so that people are able to feel protected when they go to churches, schools, clubs and any place we can gather as American citizens, and not feel we are unprotected and live in fear,” Gotto said.
Kudrick also paid tribute to Special Law Enforcement Officer George Garo, marking the 10th anniversary of the officer’s passing in a motor vehicle accident.
“Officer Garo started in Howell in 1964. He was a special officer here when the New Jersey State Police patrolled Howell. The Howell Police Department swore him in 1971,” the chief said.
Kudrick said when he was growing up in Howell, Garo was one of the first police officers he came to know.
Garo “was hard to miss. He had pure white hair, a great demeanor, very pleasant, even as a little kid, sometimes police officers are a little intimidating for a kid to approach, but he wasn’t and he was actually the symbol of how I thought a police officer should be,” he said.
Kudrick described Garo as being physically fit, with his uniform neatly pressed and his shoes always shined, someone the chief called a true gentleman.
“I had the pleasure of working with him for many years,” Kudrick said.