Ocean Gate Police Chief To Retire On Dec. 1

Longtime Ocean Gate Police Chief Reece J. Fisher will step down from the police department on Dec. 1, Mayor Paul J. Kennedy said.

"Just plain old retiring," Kennedy said. "29 years of service is a long time."

Ocean Gate and Pine Beach have one of the few consolidated police chief positions, with Fisher serving as chief in both of these tiny boroughs on the Toms River over the past several years.

Ocean Gate will probably appoint an "officer in charge" from within the department while they try to decide what to do, the mayor said.

"We have rescinded the Pine Beach agreement as of Dec. 1," Kennedy said.

Fisher began his police career in Seaside Park in May 1986 and moved on to Ocean Gate in November of 1987. He was appointed to the rank of sergeant in November 2004. He was promoted to lieutenant and named officer in charge in after former Chief Darryl Maffia retired. He was named police chief on March 28, 2007.

"After 30 years in law enforcement, serving the borough of Ocean Gate for 29 of them, it's a bittersweet sentiment I have to announce my retirement from the Ocean Gate Police Department..." he said in his Oct. 5 retirement letter.

Image: Ocean Gate Police Department