Jersey Troopers II

Featured Former Jersey Trooper

2012-01-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

I’ve taken this opportunity to feature a former Jersey Trooper some might recall, most - probably not, but one whose scholastic abilities set the pace for his career and the remainder of his life. Recalling his youth, he ran everywhere. He was only ten when his father sent him off on an errand to the store in downtown Pitman for a pack of cigarettes. Running the full half-mile trek he quickly made the purchase and was midway home in full sprint when an unsuspecting lady opened the door from inside her parked car just as the swift footed youngster passed by. Colliding full force with the massive hulking car door, the young, weightless runner bounced wildly into the street. Immediately, he shook off the violent collision, jumped up and scurried away, unaware of the gash the imposing car door left upon his head.

Fearful for the boy’s safety, the concerned lady summoned the local police and gave a detailed description of youth. The officers were well aware of the boy’s identity, not because of any delinquency, but because of their amazement of his running ability. Every time they saw him he was running, and he was fast. Proceeding to his home they found him in the confidence of his father, the local auto mechanic, a white towel held upon head, blood stained from the gash he received in his collision with the weighty car door. A ride in the police car to a nearby doctor for a few stitches was all that remained of the mishap. But that didn’t slow him down.

Eight years later, this 1949 graduate of Pitman High School, left an outstanding mark as both an athlete and student leader. In football, he lettered three years, playing end on offense and in the backfield on defense. In his senior year the team was Tri-County Champions, loosing just one game to a non-league opponent, Lower Regional. Their 8-1 record was the best in Pitman’s history.

At only 135 lbs. and one of the smallest players on the field you can imagine that football wasn’t his premier sport, but his speed was a constant threat on every play. His greatest success however was in track. As a freshman and sophomore he was an excellent quarter-miler, achieving Tri-County and South Jersey Group I Championships in that race. Doubling that distance, he is considered as one of Pitman’s best ever half-milers, where he won all but two races as a junior and then going undefeated as a senior, winning Tri-County, the South Jersey Group I Championship, and finally being the New Jersey State Group I Champion.

His 1946, 47 and 48 teams were Tri-County Champions, and the 1946 and 47 teams also won the South Jersey Championships. In 1949, the team won the Bridgeton Relays, a first ever for a Pitman High team. But South Jersey was only local news.

The successes of the Pitman team qualified them to participate in the Penn Relays in all four years. The 1946 team captured first place in the mile relay. But that wasn’t his personal highlight. In 1949, his senior year he ran the third leg of the mile relay. Receiving the baton, he was thirty yards behind the leader. Through sheer determination he was able to make up the entire deficit and handed off the baton tied with the leader, a 51.8 quarter mile, better than the school’s stand alone quarter mile record. An amazing accomplishment, shortly overshadowed by defeat, the team lost the race by one foot.

As a senior he was president of the Student Council, active in the Dramatic Club, serving as president, and performing lead parts in both his junior and senior class plays. Always artistic, he won third place nationally at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh out of thousands of entries for abstract design.

After graduating high school, he attended Kings College in Delaware, labored for a local cement mason, and then worked briefly for RCA and Dupont before enlisting in the New Jersey State Police in 1954.

Anyone who knows Lieutenant Alfred C. Mossop, #1337 (Ret.) knows he doesn’t stand still for long. Always on the move, he hurried his way around Troops “A,” “C,” and “D” before being posted at Division Headquarters in the Community Relations Unit, and then lastly at Emergency Management before retiring in 1983, after twenty-nine years of service.

Outside the State Police, Al served in the New Jersey National Guard for twenty-two years, retiring in 1972 at the rank of Major. Over the years he’s served on the Elk Township Resolution Committee, was President of the Jim Thorpe Lions Club, served as Regular Chairman of the Lions Club, and was Deputy Sheriff of Carbon County, Pa.

Currently, Al serves on the Salem County Resolution Committee, and is a monthly regular at the Troop “A” retiree get-togethers at Bernardi’s Wheat Road Tavern in Vineland.

Al was inducted into the Pitman High School Sports Hall of Fame on November 27, 2005, and the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame on March 28, 2006.

After his retirement, Al and his wife Nancy relocated from South Jersey to Jim Thorpe, Pa., to Kissimmee, Fl., and then back to South Jersey. It’s kind of like running that oval track in his younger days. No matter how far you go, you always wind up where you started the race. After four children, twelve grandchildren, and four great grandchildren you’d think he’d start to slow down. Not even close. I’ve known Al personally for thirty-eight years, and I still can’t keep up with him.

Lt. George Wren, #3680 (Ret.)

(As previously posted in the December 2011 issue of True Blue & Gold)

An unCommon Response!

2011-05-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Rapping at the White House

By Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Once again we have an association controversy at the White House. This week, a rapper who calls himself "Common" was invited by Michelle Obama to read some of his "poetry" to a hand-picked audience in the "People's House." The problem is that Common (real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn) has glorified convicted cop killers Joanne Chesimard and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

You may remember that Ms. Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1977 for killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. After being stopped on the Jersey Turnpike, Chesimard and two accomplices opened fire on Foerster and his partner, James Harper, who was wounded.

Chesimard was sentenced to life in prison but escaped in 1979, fleeing to Cuba, where she has been granted asylum.

Even though Common wasn't even born when that murder took place, he has insisted in his raps that Ms. Chesimard is innocent. He has said the same thing about Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

While Common is entitled to rap any way he wants, it is troubling that he would be sought out by the White House for a prestigious exposition. Is this not a tacit endorsement of the man? Presidential spokesman Jay Carney says no, explaining that sympathy for cop killers is not "the sum total of this particular artist's work."

The number of poets who would like to read their work at the White House is almost unlimited. This is huge honor. Among those reading with Common were Steve Martin and Elizabeth Alexander. Surely, the First Lady could have chosen a more appropriate artist than Common.

So, once again, we have a judgment issue. Many police agencies across the country are outraged by the embrace the White House has given Common, and, I submit, millions of Americans are not comfortable with the selection either.

I have been a fan of Mrs. Obama's tenure as First Lady. She has brought grace and dignity to the White House. Her campaign to fight child obesity is right on, and I have personally witnessed Mrs. Obama going out of her way to show great kindness to regular folks.

But both Barack and Michelle Obama have a blind spot when it comes to social controversy. The Reverend Wright situation was obviously disturbing. Then, on Easter Sunday, the First Couple sat in a church where the cleric, a known verbal bomb-thrower, sermonized about slavery injustice. Now, the questionable Common.

The black experience in America is far different than the white experience, and honest people understand that. But the President and First Lady represent all of us, and should always be aware of sensitivities. Common may be the best rapper on earth. But his words have brought pain to the families and friends of two slain police officers.

That is enough to disqualify the man from a White House honor.

######

This issue came to light a couple of days ago, and caused a lot of angst within the law enforcement community. Having personally researched this senseless murder and written the TRUE story in my book, I decided to submit the below letter to Bill O’Reilly for inclusion on his show ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ on May 12, 2010. Unfortunately, Mr. O’Reilly’s staff either didn’t feel the contents of my letter worthy, or maybe they just felt it too controversial, so they excluded it from the show. As such, I posted it on his website today! Read on…

Kudos to you Mr. O'Reilly, and to Jersey Trooper David Jones for bringing to light what extremes our misguided president will go to get re-elected. Emulating the fraudulent celebrity and heinous lyrics of the rapper Common is disgraceful. On Police Week, it is beyond reproach. As one who personally reviewed the extensive investigation files of the senseless murder of Trooper Werner Forester for my historical book Jersey Troopers II: The Next 35 Years (1971-2006), I can assure you, not only did Joanne Chesimard assassinate the already mortally wounded Trooper Forester, but she alone started the shoot-out, shooting Trooper James Harper first and then murdering Trooper Forester, all because she feared being arrested for her part in an earlier Black Liberation Army bank robbery. The TRUE account of what happened in the first hours of that fateful May 2, 1973 morning can be found in my book. Please feel free to pass that on to our misguided chief executive, and that fraud Common.

Lt. George J. Wren, Jr., NJSP - Retired
Sea Isle City, New Jersey
www.jerseytroopersii.com

A historic investigation for a former State Police lieutenant

2011-04-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

Posted: Sunday, April 18, 2010 4:00 am | Updated: 7:12 am, Sun Apr 18, 2010.

By STEVEN V. CRONIN, Staff Writer |

You'd think after serving 25 years in the New Jersey State Police, George J. Wren Jr. would know this about police officers - they really don't like being interviewed.
But that's exactly what the longtime law-enforcement vet set out to do shortly after turning in his badge.
"For the most part, police officers in general are tight-lipped. Thank God I had good interviewing skills," said Wren.
Just how good the interviewing skills the 53-year-old Sea Isle City man developed during his police career are apparent in the size of "Jersey Troopers II," Wren's 712-page history of the State Police in the years between 1971 and 2006.
The book includes anecdotes by active and former police officers, as well as information Wren gleaned from combing through records at the New Jersey State Police Museum & Learning Center in West Trenton.
The book is a sequel to an earlier one by Leo J. Coakley, a State Police sergeant who had covered the organization's history from its founding in 1921 through its first 50 years.
Wren had read that book before entering the State Police in 1982 and again shortly after joining the force.
Coakley's book ended with a statement that the future history of the State Police has yet to be written. Young, excited about his new job, Wren took the sergeant's challenge to heart.
"Back in 1983 and 1984, when I was trooper patrolling the backwoods in Cumberland County, I read Coakley's book and said to myself 'If no one does it by the time I retire, I'll do it,'" Wren said. "When I got down to retirement, I thought, 'No one's done it yet, so why not?'"
Researching the book, Wren found why no one else had attempted the project. A former member of the State Police's Intelligence Bureau, the retired trooper soon discovered researching the book to be a job in itself.
"My wife will tell you I did it more than full-time," Wren said.
Wren most enjoyed meeting with other former troopers and discussing their time on the job.
"That was the most fun - getting together with guys and talking about old cases and stuff. It was good sitting down with guys who were in maybe 15 and 20 years before I was, and talking about what they did. It was a lot of fun to gain their insight on things."
With the book published by a print-on-demand company, Wren and his wife sell it through their Web site, www.jerseytroopersii.com. Proceeds from the sale of the $48.95 hardcover and $38.95 softcover go to a scholarship fund for the children of troopers who died off duty.
Contact Steven V. Cronin:
609-272-7242
SCronin@pressofac.com

The History

2011-04-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Jersey Troopers II serves as the continuing saga of the New Jersey State Police and its preeminent Outfit of Jersey Troopers. As the title denotes, Jersey Troopers II picks up where the original story ended in 1971 with the first published book written by Sergeant Leo J. Coakley, titled, Jersey Troopers: A Fifty Year History of the New Jersey State Police. Together, these two books cover an 85 year history of our esteemed State Constabulary, a history well worth the read. Copies are readily available at Amazon.com and via my website www.jerseytroopersii.com. All proceeds from sales derived from my website go toward establishing an educational fund to support the children of deceased or disabled Jersey Troopers. Enjoy our history!