New Police Officers and Recruits Join the Woodbridge PD

Thirteen new police officers and recruits were appointed to the Wednesday in a Town Hall ceremony. The new   policemen include eight officers who were sworn in and have completed the state-mandated police training program at police training academies, and who are being assigned to patrol duties. Five new police recruits, who will attend a six month course of police academy training in January and become sworn officers by mid-2012, were at the ceremony as well.

Mayor John McCormac and members of the Town Council presided over the event, attended by the new officers and recruits and their families and friends. Woodbridge police officers, led by Police Director Robert Hubner - whose daughter is one of the new police officers - were present at the swearing-in ceremony. Municipal Clerk John Mitch administered the oath to the new officers.

“I have consistently indicated that the public safety mission is our most important priority," said McCormac. "As a result of our commitment to public safety, combined with the increased assignment of uniformed officers to street patrol, the Woodbridge Police Department continues to report a decline in overall crime in 2011."  

Eight of the 13 new officers are military veterans who have served active tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, McCormac said.

"It is our goal to continue to maintain our police ranks at maximum staffing levels to effectively protect public safety," he added.

The eight police officers beginning patrol assignments are:

• Bryan Fredrick Dorward, 30,  of Iselin. A graduate of John F. Kennedy High School and N.J. Institute of Technology,  Dorward was previously employed as a surveyor with William Held Associates since 1998. 
• John Xavier Janowski, 25, of Sewaren. Janowski graduated from Woodbridge High School graduate and received a bachelor of arts degree from Ramapo College in 2008. He was previously employed as a corrections officer with the Middlesex County Department of Corrections. 
• David Michael Hughes, 25, of Woodbridge. Hughes is a Woodbridge High School graduate who also majored in criminal justice at St. John’s University.  He has been a member of the WPD Auxiliary police force since 2007.
• Rafael Soares Marinho, 25, of Avenel. Marinho is an Army veteran with service in Iraq as a member of the Indirect Fire Infantry.  He received an honorable discharge from active service in 2008 and served in the National Guard until Sept. 2011.  Marinho previously worked as a corrections officer for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. 
• Nicole Helen Hubner, 23, of Colonia.  Hubner graduated in 2006 from John F. Kennedy High School and attended Richard Stockton College with a major in criminal justice. She was employed as 911 dispatch operator with the WPD Office of Emergency & Telecommunication Services since 2007.
• Robert Francis Montalvo, Jr., 26, of Woodbridge. Montalvo graduated from Cardinal McCarrick High School in South Amboy, and in 2007, received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the College of New Jersey. Montalvo was employed as a 911 dispatcher operator with the WPD Office of Emergency & Telecommunication Services since 2008.
• Thomas James Ratajczak,  23, of Fords and Hopelawn.  Ratajczak graduated from Woodbridge High School. He graduated from Middlesex County College in 2008 and Kean University in 2010; he majored in criminal justice at both schools. 
• Marco G. Bruno, 25, of Woodbridge. Bruno is a former U.S. Marine with service in Iraq as a member of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  A graduate of Woodbridge High School and Middlesex County College, Bruno received a bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State College where he majored in criminal justice. He was previously employed with the Middlesex County Department of Corrections as a juvenile corrections officer.  

The five new police academy recruits, all military veterans, will attend the Monmouth County police academy in January. They are:

• Brian Kevin Joseph, 30, Sewaren
• Jeian Rastegarpanah, 29, Port Reading
• Amanda Felicies, 26, Fords
• Alejandro Ovidio Vasquez, 29, Keasbey
• Gary Wayne Hubbard, Jr., 30, Woodbridge