MORRIS COUNTY — After fifty-one years of dedicated law enforcement service to the only county he has ever lived in, Morris County Sheriff, Edward V. Rochford, will retire at the end of his current term on December 31, 2016.
Rochford said “Fifty one years in the same profession is a long, long time! My goal when I became sheriff back in 1993, was to take a good sheriff’s office to a higher level. With the officers and employees I have had throughout the years, coupled with the management philosophy I have always maintained, we were able to accomplish just that. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office earned the prestige of being the first nationally accredited sheriff’s agency in the state of New Jersey in 1998. Further, I credit current and former employees for their loyalty and dedication in achieving the Crown Jewel in law enforcement by receiving the coveted Triple Crown Award from the National Sheriffs’ Association for simultaneously being accredited by three national associations in law enforcement and corrections.”
Out of the 3,082 sheriff’s offices nationwide, only 36 of them have ever received this distinction and under the leadership of Sheriff Rochford, the MCSO received this award twelve years in a row. Additionally, since 2004, the Morris County Correctional Facility has consistently been rated in the top 1% of all jails nationwide and that is out of a pool of over 3000 jails.
Rochford originally started his career in 1965 with the Morris Township Police Department and served there for twenty-seven years attaining the rank of Deputy Chief. In 1992, and was elected to the position of county sheriff, and was sworn into office on January 1, 1993. He went on to be re-elected for seven more terms. Rochford made history this past November as the only person in the history of Morris County to achieve fifty years of service in a law enforcement capacity exclusively to the County of Morris.
Sheriff Rochford has been honored with countless awards throughout his career, too many to enumerate, with over 50 departmental awards including Police Officer of the Year while at the Morris Township PD. Some of the more memorable and recent awards/honors include the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award given to him by the New Jersey State Troopers Coalition, 2015 New Jersey Women in Law Enforcement Department Achievement Award, 2015 Special Achievement Award by the New Jersey Taxpayers Association, 2009 Distinguished Leadership Award by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police, the honor of being named the Morris County Grand Marshal for the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in 2013 and later this year he is receiving the 2016 Boy Scouts of America Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sheriff Rochford was well known for supporting his officers and employees, and he consistently recognized them for their outstanding work. The services performed by the Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Law Enforcement and Bureau of Corrections were second to none. Rochford was well known for his dedication to the job, being the first one in and the last one to leave the office and then attending numerous events during the evening and weekends; always staying in touch with the residents of the county. Rochford never forgot his roots and always was remained a steward to the county. Rochford will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 4pm in front of the courthouse to release more information.
As for what is entailed for the sheriff upon his retirement…”I am an avid baseball fan and I have always wanted to visit every major league baseball stadium in the country. I will work on knocking this off my bucket list!”
