NJ PROBATION: O IS FOR OCEAN COUNTY

I've been slacking off on writing these memories and covering my badge collection at the same time. Well now is the time to catch up.

I think it is time to do The Probation Collection again. Checking the records I see that I am up to the letter "O". This means Ocean County. It is one of New Jersey's waterfront communities on the Atlantic.

I have two badges from "Ocean" in the display of County Probation Departments. As noted in earlier articles these County Department became part of a uniform State service in 1994. That seems like yesterday as I sit by the keyboard typing, but time is flying. That was sixteen years ago.

Looking back there are a lot of nice memories from events in Ocean County. As a kid I recall many visits to the Boardwalk in Seaside Park, NJ. That was a great resort town that had upward population swings between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Seaside Park was flanked on one side by the Atlantic Ocean, and the backside by Barnegat Bay. I had the good fortune of having a boat in the family and used it frequently, often beaching it near Barnegat Light House. Those were the good old days.

I got the nice badges just before the State takeover from an officer who actually grew up in Newark. The man lived only a few blocks from my home. We didn't know each other then, but became close while working as elected officers for the State (Probation Officer's) Association. I recall, like it was yesterday, him slipping me a small package wrapped in a paper towel at one of those meetings.

The badges are nearly identical. In probation there was the entry level "Officer" rank. The next title was that of "Senior Probation Officer." There were a couple of more ranks, but I only got these two. I guess there wasn't enough paper towels to obtain a rank set.

Both badges have an Eagle set on top of a sunburst. The have black filled recessed letters, and are silver tone in color. Despite their age they are in great shape. Today they are under glass in a display of badges from County Probation Department. They look mighty nice in my opinion, and brighten the walls of my den with fond memories of days gone by.