Fort Lee Police Department - Officers Killed in The Line of Duty

Officers Killed in The Line of Duty

Since the department’s beginning in 1904, only two Fort Lee Police Officers have been killed in the line of duty:

Police Officer William T. Birch was gunned down while responding to a hold up alarm at the Riviera Motel on Route 4 on September 4, 1966. James Beldon who shot and killed Officer Birch was originally sentenced to death in 1967, but that sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972. A mere ten years after having his death penalty commuted to life in prison, Beldon was paroled and a free man in 1982. In 2005 at the age of 79, Beldon was arrested for attempting to sell an illegal handgun in Massachusetts while bragging he had killed a New Jersey police officer and had gotten away with it. He was returned to prison in New Jersey for violation of his parole. Beldon died in prison 2 years later at the age of 81. In 2007 a Yellow Labrador K-9 Birch was added to the Fort Lee Police Department to honor the memory of William T. Birch. On June 6, 2009 the Borough of Fort Lee renamed Federspiel Street to William T. Birch Way in his honor. The location was fitting as it was in the same neighborhood that William Birch had lived in.

Police Officer Kevin R. Greener was killed in a motorcycle accident on August 9, 1999 while traveling to a patrol tactics class he was teaching. Officer Greener was formerly a sergeant with the Essex County Police Department, but left when the department was disbanded. Officer Greener also worked for the West Caldwell Police Department for two years, prior to settling down with the Fort Lee Police Department in 1993. Aside from being a defensive tactics instructor for the department, Officer Greener was also a member of the department's Emergency Services Unit. In August 2008, a German Shepherd K-9 Greener was added to the Fort Lee Police Department to honor the memory of Officer Kevin Greener. Within his first month on patrol, K-9 Greener had already assisted Fort Lee Police officers in making two large narcotics arrests.