Mahwah DARE Officer Retiring After 'Blessed' Career

It is not easy for Mahwah DARE Officer Joe Horn to talk about his retirement.

After 20 years on the MPD, Horn will end his career in the township on Friday, in a very fitting way. His last assignment - Friday evening’s DARE Graduation ceremony.

For the last time, Horn will congratulate a class of DARE graduates for completing a drug and alcohol prevention course with him, something the police officer says he’s been “blessed” to be able to do for the past 14 years.

“I knew I wanted to work with the DARE program as soon as I got hired,” Horn said. “But, I had to prove myself as an officer first. [Teaching DARE] is not just something that’s given to you, you have to aspire to it.”

At the time, Horn said his friend, Mahwah Sgt. Rob Curtis, was heading the program.

“If not for all of the groundwork [Curtis] put into this program, I would not have been able to do any of what I did,” Horn said. When he took over as Mahwah’s DARE coordinator 14 years ago, he said he “just put my own spin,” on the program.

Talking to parents and students who have gone through the district in the past decade and a half, that spin has made a difference.

“Personally, I don’t know Officer Horn very well,” resident and parent Andy Schmidt said at a small retirement party for Horn Thursday afternoon. “But really, I do, because I’ve heard your name for so many years at the dinner table. I know just from my kids and their friends what an impact [Officer Horn has had].”

Though Horn said his decision to retire was not an easy one, his reasoning behind it has to do with a part of his life that most of his students probably don’t know much about.

“When I first got hired in Mahwah, I was a 23-year-old kid. They took a chance on me. I remember telling my father I had been hired in Mahwah, and he was so impressed that I was working for this agency. My mother passed away before I was hired, but she was really nervous about me becoming a cop. The only way I could get her to agree to it was if I promised I’d continue my education, so I did.”

Horn, a William Paterson grad, finished his Master’s Degree after taking the job in Mahwah. Then, he decided to go to law school.

His first two years were spent at Brooklyn Law School, and he finished his law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, all while working for the MPD.

To get it done, he switched shifts with another officer for four years, working only night shifts. While at U Penn, “I’d get off work at 6:30 in the morning, drive to Newark, take a train to Philly, and go to school.”

Horn graduated in 2000, and opened his own law practice in East Rutherford.

His law career has been impressive, too. Horn has represented prominent figures in criminal defense cases, like boxer Paul Spadafora, and he was late Mahwah resident Les Paul’s attorney during the last few years of his life.

Horn says increasing demands from his practice prompted him to retire.

Though he planned no ceremonial goodbye to all of his students, “I think [the Police Department,” is going to make a big fuss about it at Friday’s graduation,” Horn said.

At Horn’s retirement party Thursday, Mayor Bill Laforet presented the officer with his Diamond Club award, and a “Key to the City.”

“This recognizes people who have contributed so much to our community, and certainly you have,” Laforet said.

Police Chief Jim Batelli echoed Laforet’s statements.

“I don’t think people realize all of the contributions [Horn] has made. In terms of working with students, school officials, business leaders, and officers to create and implement programming for the community, [his retirement] is going to leave a real void.”

But, Batelli wished Horn luck, saying his decision to focus on his law career, “is a positive move.”

For Horn, he says he could not have spent his police career in a better way.

“The law and order stuff is important. I’ve done that too, I actually had the second biggest drug arrest in department history,” he said. “But, I really believe that police work shouldn’t just be reactive. It should be proactive. You need to build up a trust and rapport with the community you are there to serve.”

To all of his present and former students, Horn says he has been lucky to work with them.

“I have truly been blessed to get the opportunity to work with these kids. I’ll never know if it was something I did or said that made the difference for them. But, they should know that they have taught me just as much as I hope I’ve taught them about what is really important in life, and about who I really am.”

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