Welcome to the Bergenfield Police Department

POLICE UNITY TOUR 2013

Officers from BPD again participated in the Police Unity Tour bicycle ride from New Jersey to Washington, DC. The tour began May 9 from East Hanover, NJ, making its way to Edison for Day 1.

Day 2 was a long 97 miles from Edison to Wilmington, DE, but the destination was arrived at safely by the tour.

Day 3 was a setback due to extremely bad weather predicted along the route. It included severe thunderstorms containing heavy rain and dangerous lightning. The riders, motors and support were moved ahead via buses and tractor trailers to Annapolis, Maryland, to protect everyone participating.

Day 4 arrived and the tour reached its destination at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. The arrival ceremony took place after 1500 bicycle riders, two by two, entered the memorial greeted by cheering and grateful officers, family members, dignitaries, and supportive citizens. The national memorial received a donation from the Unity Tour totaling over $1,000,000 dollars.

Participating in this year's tour from Bergenfield Police were:

Riders: Sgt. Scott Macfie, PO Michael Dymek

Motors: Det. William Duran, Sgt. Robert Boria, and retired Sgt. Bryan Dalton

Support: 9-1-1 Telecommunicator Rich Brendlen

Residents are reminded to be wary of any type of emails, letters, or phone calls from persons not known to you that involves you sending money via Western Union to other locations or addresses, especially international addresses. Scams have occurred whereby the caller or emailer will send you a check for a certain amount of money, asking you to deposit it to your own account then to Western Union monies to them based on that check. Those checks sent to you are fraudulent. You will not realize it until your bank contacts you about that check not being valid.

Other scams, one of which is being investigated presently, involve a resident accepting delivery of packages after receiving a call from a person who requested the parcels be sent to this resident. In turn, the resident would re-package the items and send them to another overseas address. In return for the favor of sending the packages the resident was promised a monetary payment. These parcels were all purchased with stolen credit card numbers.

A scam that has recently been attempted in the Bergen County area involves the "Grandparent" scam. A caller has made multiple calls to elderly victims claiming to be a grandson who has been arrested for DWI in Los Angeles and/or New York City. The scammer attempts to get the victim to wire money to bail him out of jail.

There are numerous scams, frauds and cons perpetrated each day on unsuspecting citizens. These occur here in Bergenfield too. The Bergenfield Police request residents to be aware of the frauds and to watch out for their elderly friends and neighbors too. Senior citizens are often easy targets for the scammers. Speak to your neighbors and make them aware.

Some complaints have been received regarding phone telemarketers soliciting for donations to police organizations. Many of the organizations are legitimate but are not soliciting on behalf of the local police organizations, such as Bergenfield PBA Local 309. If in doubt contact the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs to verify whether the solicitor is registered. If you have a complaint against the solicitor, also lodge that complaint with the Division of Consumer Affairs. See link below for more information.

Websites with useful information on scams and frauds:

Click on any one of the below agencies to link to information

NJ Division of Consumer Affairs *When arriving at this site go to bottom of page to search, type the word "police". This will show the registered charitable police organizations within the State of NJ.

FBI

NABI (National Association of Bunco Investigators)