When Princeton Police Chief Jonathan Bucchere closes the door to his office at the Princeton Police Department at the end of the day on July 31, it will mark the end of his career as a police officer.
Bucchere is retiring from the Princeton Police Department after a 25-year career. He is also the third police chief of the Princeton Police Department, which was formed after the former Princeton Borough and Princeton Township police departments consolidated in 2013.
“I love this town and I love the Princeton Police Department,” Bucchere said. “To leave it is difficult. It was a privilege to be a police officer in Princeton.”
A career in law enforcement was not exactly at the top of Bucchere’s mind when he enrolled at The College of New Jersey, but a front row seat watching his brother’s career in the New Jersey State Police inspired him to reconsider it.
“I admired the work that my brother did,” he said. “I realized in school that law enforcement would be the avenue I would explore.”
Bucchere earned a bachelor’s degree in law and justice in 1998. He began his career in law enforcement as a patrol officer at the former Princeton Borough Police Department. It was the first police department to which he had applied – along with about 800 other candidates for the job.
“I was lucky. I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
Serving as a police officer in Princeton allowed him to experience every aspect of law enforcement every day, Bucchere said. He pointed to Princeton University, the numerous private and public schools, the Princeton Shopping Center and the Princeton Business District.
“It allows your day to never be the same,” he said. “In other places and other police departments, the days are very similar.”
Bucchere held many positions during his two-plus decades as a police officer – from patrol officer to detective to sergeant, lieutenant, captain and police chief. He was the press information officer, the canine unit supervisor and the field training commander for new police officers.
The job of patrol sergeant, which he also held, is one of the most important jobs in the police department, Bucchere said. The patrol sergeant supervises the patrol officers during their shift.
The patrol corporal and the patrol sergeant are at the heartbeat of the police department. They have to make a decision at a moment’s notice, sometimes in the middle of the night, he said.
As a police officer, Bucchere said, he always looked up to the police chiefs. He credits his wife with encouraging him to go as far in his career as he could.
“My goal all along was to be the police chief,” he said. “It is not an easy job being police chief, but no other job in the Princeton Police Department gave me more satisfaction than being chief. It is rewarding.
“Through policies, you get to mold and shape the police department. When the police administration gets together to come up with a recruitment plan and you hire officers that match the demographics of the town, it is incredibly rewarding.”
Bucchere also is proud of the Princeton Police Department’s Civilian Police Academy, which recently wrapped up its second year. It allows for the police officers to build relationships with the community and to give residents some insight into how policing works in Princeton.
While it was his idea, Bucchere said that police Lt. Matthew Solovay and Sgt. Daniel Federico “made [the civilian police academy] their own. I gave them the idea and they turned it into a Picasso.”
Meanwhile, there have been changes in police work over the course of his 25-year career, he said. In 1999, it was largely quantitative – how many summonses were issued, how many arrests were made and how many overtime parking tickets were written.
“The profession has changed for the better,” Bucchere said. “It is less about the quantity of the work and more about how you can maintain and improve public safety. It’s not about tickets, but how you make the town safe and the relationships you make.”
Given the increase in mental illness, police officers have to become adept at handling encounters with people who are in crisis, Bucchere said. There is a training component that teaches the officers how to de-escalate such a situation.
With all of that said, what Bucchere liked most about his career in law enforcement was the relationships that he made, such as the one with Princeton University.
“It’s the public safety aspect and forming the relationships that I liked most about the career,” he said. “You have to have the right personality to become a police officer. My ability to communicate with people helped me in my career.
“I think I chose the right profession.”
