Pennington will be losing a longtime public servant in the police department when Police Chief Doug Pinelli retires next year.
Mayor Jim Davy announced during a Pennington Borough Council meeting on June 3 that Pinelli had submitted his retirement letter for his retirement, Feb. 1, 2025.
“It was just kind of a last-minute decision. While it was an extremely hard decision it was time,” Pinelli said, explaining it was “unfortunately, one of the hardest decisions I had to make.” “It took a lot of back and forth.”
Pinelli, who has served with the Pennington Police Department for 20 years, became the borough’s chief of police in 2020, first serving as interim chief and then appointed chief after his employment agreement was authorized by Borough Council that year.
He has led the police department as chief since the retirement of former Public Safety Director William Meytrott and Pennington’s switch from a public safety director model to police chief.
Meytrott had also served 20 years as the civilian head of the police department before Pinelli became the police chief.
Pinelli joined the Pennington police force in 2004 and served as patrol officer until he was promoted to sergeant in 2016. The next year, he was promoted to sergeant first class.
Pennington Police Chief Doug Pinelli
When thinking about his 20-year career with the police department, Pinelli has discussed and explained to adjacent chiefs that “there were definitely things I wanted to see through, but I was not able to do.”
All in all, the chief believes the police department will be able to “muddle” through anything moving forward.
“…I’m leaving (the police department) in good hands.”
Prior to the police department, he was a member of Pennington Fire Company from 2000 to 2005 serving as chief. He is a life member of the Pennington Fire Department.
Pinelli worked through the ranks of the fire company to become chief and resigned when he started as a police officer with the Pennington Police Department.
Prior to joining the Pennington police force, Pinelli served in the Belmar Police Department as a Class II officer for a couple years and was also employed by the Hopewell Township Public Works Department.
His longtime service to Pennington is not unexpected. Pinelli’s father, Micheal Pinelli and his brother, David Pinelli, are former fire chiefs of the Pennington Fire Company.
Pinelli’s father also worked for Pennington as the superintendent of public works.
