Harvey F. Morrell Jr., 87, who served as Howell’s first chief of police when the Howell Police Department was created in 1971 and later served as mayor, died at home in Howell on March 21.
On the department’s Facebook page, police wrote that Morrell’s family is “so grateful and extends their sincere gratitude to all who have offered their condolences.”
“Rest peacefully Chief. We know you have our six (back),” police said.
Morrell, who was a native of Matawan, served in the U.S. Air Force. He joined the police department in his hometown in 1957 and eventually rose to the rank of captain.
As the 1970s began, the New Jersey State Police were patrolling Howell, which was still a mostly rural community, with suburbanization on the horizon. The Howell Police Department was created by municipal officials in September 1971 and Morrell was hired to serve as the first police chief.
Morrell initially served as the only officer as he began the task of staffing the new agency, hiring experienced officers from Matawan, Abderdeen, Freehold Township, Wall Township and the state police, among several other departments.
The Howell officers initially worked with the state police troopers who were still on duty in the community. The state police eventually ceased operations in Howell, leaving public safety in the hands of the new department.
The first police headquarters was set up in a trailer behind the municipal court building on Route 524. From there, the police department was moved to the former parks and recreation building at the former municipal complex on Preventorium Road. The department operated from that location until early 1973, when it was moved to the barracks on Route 524 that had been vacated by the state police. When the police department outgrew that facility, it moved to the former town hall at the foot of Preventorium Road.
Morrell retired as Howell’s police chief in December 1989. In 1990 he took a job with Colts Neck and helped to start that township’s police department as the director of public safety.
Morrell entered politics and became Howell’s first directly elected mayor in 1993. He served from 1994-97. Morrell returned to his career in law enforcement after leaving office when he was named police director in Allentown, a position he held for a number of years.
Serving as mayor “was a good experience. I accomplished a lot during those four years and I met a lot of hardworking people,” he said in a 2007 interview with the Tri-Town News when municipal officials acknowledged his contributions by renaming the police department and courthouse the Harvey F. Morrell Jr. Criminal Justice Building.
Within the community, Morrell started the North Howell Little League, where he coached his son, and was a member of the Howell Rotary Club, the Howell Chamber of Commerce and the Howell Republican Club. He was past president and member of the executive board of the Monmouth County Chiefs of Police Association. He taught at Brookdale Community College and at the Monmouth County Police Academy. He was a graduate of the FBI’s 116th National Academy Class.
Joseph DiBella was serving as mayor in 2007 when the criminal justice building was named in Morrell’s honor. At the time, DiBella said, “Harvey Morrell is perhaps one of the finest individuals I have ever met. He is a living example of a model public servant. The legacy he has created lives on to this day.”
Morrell married Frances Jean Cashill in 1959 and the couple settled in Howell. The retired chief was predeceased by his wife. He is survived by his children, Sharon Amalfa and her husband, Michael, Linda Dugan and her husband, Glenn, Barbara Kudrick and her husband, Andrew, Jeffrey Morrell and his wife, Tammy, and Jennifer Morrell and Raymond Manfra. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a sister, Shirley Akins, and her husband, Jim; and many nieces, nephews, and friends, according to an obituary provided by the Clayton and McGirr Funeral Home, Freehold Township.