Lawrence Police Chief Daniel Posluszny To Retire

Lawrence Township Police Chief Daniel Posluszny will retire on Jan. 1, 2014.

“I’ve been here over 28 years and it’s just time,” Posluszny said. “ I love the police and I like the job, but it’s time for me to do something else. I just don’t know what exactly that is.”

Although he won’t receive his full pension, which would fully vest after 30 years of service, Posluszny will receive a prorated amount for his nearly 28.5 years of service.

He has informed Lawrence Township Manager Richard Krawczun of his retirement. Krawczun and the Lawrence Council will determine the process for filling the Chief’s position, something that could be discussed as early as the council meeting on Dec. 3.

“The Police Department is in excellent condition right now,” Posluszny said. “I think there are a lot of leaders here, the department is very stable, and there’s a lot of vision.

“It’s a good time to retire,” he said. “If there were issues or things I hadn’t done correctly, I couldn’t leave.”

Posluszny, who will turn 49 on Sunday, has lived in Lawrence his entire life and he and his wife are raising their daughters, ages 14 and 15 in the Township.

He hopes to work full time, maybe in education, maybe in another field. He also wants to fit in volunteer work. 

“The biggest thing I’d like to do is follow Springsteen through Australia mid-February through the second week of March…but I don’t think my wife will let me,” Posluszny laughed.

Being a Lawrence Township police officer is the only job Posluszny has ever known. Hired by former Police Chief William Seabridge, he also worked under former chiefs Nick Loveless and John Prettyman.

Growing up in the Colonial Heights neighborhood, Posluszny hung out at the Slackwood firehouse and considered being a firefighter. But then several of his friends took the police exam, so he followed suit, placing fourth on the hiring list.

He was offered a job two years later, at age 20, after receiving his associate’s degree at Trenton State.

“I remember my father said ‘why would you want to do that (become a police officer)?’ Posluszny said. “I said ‘because it pays $20,000 a year.”

He joined the force as a patrol officer and was promoted to Patrol Sergeant In 1991.

“I love patrol, loved being a road officer, I think it’s the greatest job in the world,” he said.  “I’ve done homicide investigations, I’ve changed someone’s tire on the side of the road and I’ve done everything in between and you always get some kind of satisfaction out of what you do or gain some knowledge.”

He was promoted to lieutenant in 1996 where he worked both in internal affairs and worked on grant proposals. He rose to the rank of captain/patrol division commander) in 1999, before being appointed Deputy Chief in 2002, then Chief on July 1, 2002.

Back when he was a patrol officer, he wasn’t sure he wanted to seek promotions. And that’s when now retired Off. Ernie Chester set him straight one midnight shift, slamming on the brakes at the intersection of Brunswick Pike and Whitehead and said, ‘You should take what you know and use it to improve.”

Posluszny took his advice. 

“I still tell Ernie it’s all his fault,” he laughed.

Lawrence has changed over his career, from a population of about 20,000 people in 1985 and a mostly rural northern part of the township to exploding growth and a large expansion of housing developments.

And yet crime in the township has been on the decline. In the late 80s and early 80s, there were well over 2000 crime incidents a year. In 2012, there were fewer than 1000 incidents.

The core mission of police work hasn’t change, but the methods certainly have, he said. Departments have becoming more proactive than reactive, more intelligence-driven, better coordination with other departments and agencies, plus technological changes.

“Years ago, if we dusted for prints at a burglary scene, you would have had a known suspect to compare the prints with,” he said. “Now you put it in the database to compare with thousands of people.”

Over the past quarter decade, Posluszny has continued his education, earning his bachelor’s degree from Trenton State in law and justice, followed by both his master and doctorate degrees in administration supervision of higher education from Seton Hall.

He teaches a Homeland Security course at Rutgers and another course at Mercer County Community College.

And now he’s ready to follow the advice he tells his students.

“I always tell them, ‘try something different, you just be focused on a certain career path, but don’t be afraid to try something different. You might be good at it and you might make a difference in the world.”