{"id":9641,"date":"2025-09-19T14:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/?p=9641"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:34:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:34:02","slug":"essex-county-sheriffs-office-promotes-new-leaders-and-swears-in-first-african-american-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/19\/essex-county-sheriffs-office-promotes-new-leaders-and-swears-in-first-african-american-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office Promotes New Leaders and Swears in First African American Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Left to right: Sheriff Amir D. Jones, Chief Zipporah Thomas Jenkins with her daughters and husband, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., at St. Lucy\u2019s Church in Newark.<\/strong><\/em> <em><strong>&#8211; Photo Courtesy Essex County Sheriff&#8217;s Office<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">History was made on the morning of Sept. 10 as Amir D. Jones swore in a new class of leaders at the Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office, including Sergeants Garrett Barbalinardo and Hugo Torres, Lieutenants Christopher Bozios Jr. and Ryan Peter, Captain Cecil Barker, and Chief Zipporah Thomas Jenkins &#8211; who became the first African American and first woman to hold the Chief\u2019s role in the Office\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ceremony was attended by county and community leaders including Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr.<strong>, <\/strong>Theodore Stephens II<strong>, <\/strong>Andre Speight of Newark, who offered a blessing over the program, and members of the Essex County Board of Commissioners<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m so proud of this promotion class,\u201d said Sheriff Amir D. Jones, Essex County\u2019s first African American Sheriff. \u201cIt reflects the excellence and dedication of our Office. Every stripe, every star, and every badge is earned &#8211; never given. Together, we honored the service of our promotees and ushered in a new chapter for the Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added: \u201cI am deeply honored to recognize each and every person who was promoted. My hope is that our department continues to grow, and that through promotions &#8211; especially historic ones like Chief Thomas Jenkins\u2019 &#8211; women in law enforcement can see that if she can do it, so can they.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This milestone ceremony reflects Sheriff Jones\u2019 commitment to building a culture of accountability, service, and leadership that continues to move the Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office forward. <strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Left to right: Sheriff Amir D. Jones, Chief Zipporah Thomas Jenkins with her daughters and husband, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., at St. Lucy\u2019s Church in Newark. &#8211; Photo Courtesy Essex County Sheriff&#8217;s Office History was made on the morning of Sept. 10 as Amir D. Jones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essex","category-topstories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office Promotes New Leaders and Swears in First African American Chief -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/19\/essex-county-sheriffs-office-promotes-new-leaders-and-swears-in-first-african-american-chief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Essex County Sheriff\u2019s Office Promotes New Leaders and Swears in First African American Chief -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Left to right: Sheriff Amir D. 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