On Tuesday night, August 15th, Springfield Police Detective James Mirabile and Officer Ryan Westover were promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Chief John Cook addressed the standing room only audience thanking all the family, friends, fellow police officers and Chiefs who took the time to come and show their support for these two officers. Sergeant Mirabile came to Springfield in 2005 after attending the Essex County Police Academy. He was assigned to work with the Union County Prosecutor's Office Narcotics Task Force for several months in October of 2009. In April of 2012 he was assigned as an Investigator within the Detective Bureau. One year later, Sergeant Mirabile was assigned to the Union County Emergency Response Team, being one of two officers holding this assignment.
In June of 2014 Investigator Mirabile was promoted to Detective. Due to his proficiency within the Detective Bureau, in August of 2104 he was made Springfield's liaison to a New Jersey State Police Special Operations Task Force. He is now one of two Detectives in control of all evidence collected and processed by the department. He has also worked on implementing the State's new bail reform procedures and is one of the department's Firearms Instructors. For the last 5 years he has been the PBA Union delegate, a position that he had to give up upon becoming a supervisor. Sergeant Mirabile comes from a law enforcement family having two brothers who are also Police Officers.
Sergeant Westover started his law enforcement career as a 911 Dispatcher for both the Edison and Piscataway police departments. He spent 3 years as an Auxiliary Police Officer in Edison and then graduated the Somerset County Police Academy in December of 2010. He showed an immediate interest with the D.A.R.E. program, which was no surprise as he grew up having his dad being a DARE Instructor for the Edison Police Department, and became a D.A.R.E. Instructor in 2011. His father retired after dedicating 30 years of service to Edison.
Westover later, along with Officer Frank Cunha, inquired of the Chief about starting Springfield's own Junior Police Academy. After assisting a neighboring agency with their program, Westover and Cunha brought back that knowledge and developed some of their own ideas into what is now a very successful summer program for our children.
After extensive training, Sergeant Westover became a Drug Recognition Expert in 2013.
Always looking for ways to better our education of Springfield's youth, Westover worked on implementing Project Alert in 2016 which allowed the department to reach out to more of our school's students at different levels along with continuing the DARE program.
In May of 2016, Westover was assigned to the Special Services Unit in which he co-managed the department's re-accreditation process which was successfully passed this past July.
Sergeant Westover had been the PBA Union President since 2014, a position that he, like Mirabile, had to relinquish due to becoming a supervisor, and he has also represented the Springfield Police Department at the Special Olympics by assisting since 2013.
In an exclusive interview with the Patriot Times, Cook commented "I am very pleased and proud to be able to promote these two fine officers to the rank of Sergeant and I thank the Township Committee for their support of our department."
Photo Caption Left to Right:
Mother Diane Westover, brother Richard Westover Jr, Edison PD, father Richard Westover sr, son Jack Westover, Sergeant Westover, Chief John Cook, Mayor Diane Stampoulos, Sergeant Mirabile, son Paxton Mirabile and wife Nikki Mirabile.
