Another one of East Newark’s own is poised to join the borough’s blue ranks.
Newly hired Police Officer Saul Gutierrez was placed on the borough payroll at a starting salary of $25,000, effective July 18, following his appointment by the local governing body on July 15.
He becomes the ninth member of the East Newark Police Department and he’ll be taking the slot being vacated by Officer Anthony Espaillat, who is leaving the borough after two years to become a detective with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, according to Police Chief Anthony Monteiro.
The 24-year-old East Newark native is slated to begin 21 weeks of training – with 64 other rookies from other police departments in his class – at the John H. Stamler Police Academy in Scotch Plains on July 28, Monteiro said.
After he completes his training, he’ll go through an orientation process in East Newark before his assignment to active duty, Monteiro said. “We should get him on the street by mid-February,” the chief estimated.
Gutierrez, a product of East Newark Public School and Harrison High School, was described by his boss as “intelligent” and someone “who will be a great asset to our department and to the borough.”
Gutierrez said he was working as a security guard for Gateway Group 1 in Newark for several years when the opportunity to become a cop in his hometown came along “and I just had to take it.”
He said he was strongly motivated by his longtime friend Ken Sheehan, whose dad, a current Borough Councilman, is the former borough police chief. “Ken was also driven to become a police officer,” Gutierrez said. And his buddy encouraged him to follow suit.
“I’m looking for a rewarding career as a police officer in East Newark,” Gutierrez said. “It’s close to my heart working for a town you I grew up in.”
– Ron Leir
