Chief Mieczkowski officially retires from E.P.D. Deputy Chief Gerba to be acting chief until replacement can be found BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer Edison Police Chief George Mieczkowski officially announced his retirement on Nov. 15. While the township searches for his replacement, Deputy Chief Ron Gerba will serve as acting chief. Mieczkowski, who filed his retirement papers in late September, has served in the Edison Police Department for 35 years. His tenure as chief began two years ago, in December 2005, when he replaced outgoing chief Edward Costello Jr. Mieczkowski was born in 1947 in South River but is very much a product of Edison, having moved there when he was 12. He is a 1965 graduate of Edison High School and is married with three children. While on the force, he served in several departments and divisions, including traffic safety, patrol and narcotics. When he was promoted to chief through the last official act of former mayor George Spadoro, he had been the patrol commander. He thanked the members of the police department for their hard work during his time as chief. "I would like to thank the men and women of the Edison Police Department for their hard work and effort during my tenure. I would also like to thank them for their dedication to public service and to this community. It has been an honor to lead these men and women, and the Edison Police Department will always have special significance in my life," Mieczkowski said. Edison Mayor Jun Choi said that Mieczkowski should be commended for his more than three decades of service in the police department and wished him well in his retirement. "Chief Mieczkowski's more than 35 years of service to the Edison Police Department and to the Edison community must be acknowledged. We thank him for the more than three decades of dedication and we also thank him for taking on the challenge of leading this police department. We wish him great enjoyment in his retirement," said Choi. The chief's retirement means that the search is on to quickly find a replacement. According to Choi, the new chief could come from either within the Edison Police Department or from outside the department. He said that an announcement about a new police leader will be made "relatively soon," since an extensive search is already under way. The search, he said, is being conducted by the administration's senior staff and coordinated by the business administrator. Choi said that he is looking for organizational skills and community policing experience, among other qualities, in Mieczkowski's replacement. "In addition to just a highly qualified law enforcement professional, we're looking for a strong leader with organizational skills, someone who is well versed in national best practices for law enforcement. We're looking for someone who understands a diverse community and is able to build relationships among many groups. We're interested in someone with Comp- Sat experience, which is an intelligencebased community policing program. We want someone who is really just a well-respected law enforcement veteran," said Choi. Council president Charles Tomaro said that while he was sad to see Mieczkowski go, he could understand the urge to retire after more than three decades on the force. He spoke very favorably of the chief 's work and, like Choi, wished him well in the future. "I guess he's been there for 35 years and spent the majority of his life on this police department, and you get to the point where you want to do something else with your life. I'm sorry to see him leave, and I think he did a fabulous job with our department. And as I've stated before, it's not an easy department to be in charge of, but it's also a great department. So, I wish him well and wish he wasn't retiring, but I guess life has got to go on for George Mieczkowski," said Tomaro. Mike Schwartz, president of Edison Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 75, also had good words for Mieczkowski, saying that it was good to work with him. He noted that whoever the new chief turns out to be, that he or she should be an advocate for the police in Edison, especially in fighting for maintaining current staff levels. "It was a pleasure working with him. It's going to be interesting to see what's going to happen now, but whoever takes the reins, I just hope they'll be fighting for manpower and replenish our depleted fleet [of cars]. … Whoever takes over has to ambitiously and vigorously fight for increased manpower," Schwartz said.