The O’Toole Chronicles: Armando Fontoura, Sheriff Law and Order

Dating back to 871, under King Alfred the Great, the word “sheriff” became somewhat popularized. The word sheriff, coined from the original word – shire-reeve – essentially meant the keeper or chief of the county.

Life in New Jersey politics is sometimes so random, and it sometimes seems that political players always run into each other, with great frequency and even outside the normal political terrain.

Case in point, I was having lunch the other day in Whippany with the legendary Edward Deutsch, managing partner of one of New Jersey’s largest law firms, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, and we ran into Essex County Sheriff, Armando Fontoura and some other folks I hadn’t seen in a while.

I have known Armando since the late 1980’s when he was the undersheriff in Essex County, and I watched his ascension to the top law enforcement job in in 1991. Armando’s road to success wasn’t easy and he worked extremely hard as a law enforcement officer, fighting to the top of the political food chain in Essex County.

I remember vividly in 1991, as he ran in a brutal primary against Newark Councilmember Ralph Grant, in which Armando won by 8 percentage points. On the Republican side, then-freeholder Arthur Clay, won a contested primary over Louis Greenleaf and the Fontoura vs Clay race was on in the general election.

Keeping in mind that it was 1991 and the Florio backlash was running rampant in New Jersey, the Republican Clay had a real opportunity to win this important seat.

I recall being in attendance for a debate between these two candidates and Armando was really late, which was unusual. I recall it like it was yesterday, as the debate was coming to a close, the Sherriff arrived breathlessly, the partisan crowd booing him as he walked to center stage, and apologized for his tardiness. He had a really good reason; he was at University Hospital caring for one of his badly injured officers. The boo’s stopped immediately. The Sheriff talked softly about the frail condition of his officer and asked for prayers for a swift recovery.

In that moment, he had the room.

In that moment, I saw Sherriff Fontoura as a person of priority, a person of deep loyalty to his employees and fellow officers. I saw a person of deep conviction and compassion. The Sheriff knew he could lose some support by not being in attendance for the pivotal debate, but politics be damned, he needed to be with his injured employee. In that moment, I saw the makings of a county leader who would hold one of the most demanding and difficult jobs in the State.

On that recent day at lunch, as I finished a by-chance conversation with the Sherriff, it became apparent to me that it was long overdue to pay some respect to Sherriff Armando Fontoura.

For those who don’t know of his resume—let me give you a monarch note-type summary:

• Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura is responsible for operating the largest and most active Sheriff’s Department in New Jersey. The agency serves the people of Essex County and the State’s largest Superior Court vicinage;
• A career law enforcement officer, Fontoura was appointed Sheriff in 1990, elected in 1991, and re-elected in 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2021;
• He is the longest-tenured Sheriff in Essex County history, and the second longest Sheriff in the history of the State of New Jersey;
• Sheriff Fontoura is a graduate of the F.B.I.’s National Academy and the F.B.I.’s National Executive Institute. He is the past president of the Police Management Association and is an active member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriff’s Association;
• Prior to his election as Sheriff, Armando Fontoura rose through the ranks of the Newark Police Department. In a police career that began in 1967, Fontoura earned the rank of Captain and served as Chief Assistant to the Police Director. As Chief Assistant, he helped formulate policy, issued daily directives, and was responsible for the Office of Public Information;
• Over the years, Sheriff Fontoura held supervisory positions in the Patrol Division and the Detective Bureau. Working with the F.B.I. to thwart a series of bank robberies that had plagued the area, he coordinated the critically acclaimed and highly successful Bandit Squad. Sheriff Fontoura was later appointed as Project Director for the Newark P.D.’s Victim Service Center and the Sexual Assault Rape Analysis unit (SARA);
• Sheriff Fontoura also supervises one of the busiest and most active Bomb Detection Squads on the eastern seaboard. The Sheriff’s Bomb Squad responds to crime scenes, such as the North Caldwell bomb attack by the notorious Unabomber and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The Sheriff’s Bomb Squad also assists federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies throughout the northern New Jersey region. Bomb Squad activities are often augmented by the work of the Sheriff’s K-9 Unit where 15 highly trained canines and their handlers successfully sniff out bombs, drugs, weapons, arsonists, missing persons, and cadavers;
• Under Sheriff Fontoura’s direction, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office has implemented a new state-of-the-art court security system and has instituted a more efficient records management system. Sheriff Fontoura has coordinated the formation of aggressive multi-agency Task Forces with the F.B.I., the New Jersey State Police, the United States Marshals Service, and municipal police departments. In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms awarded Sheriff Fontoura’s department with the metropolitan area’s first Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS), making the Essex County Sheriff’s Office the repository for all ballistics evidence in northern New Jersey;
• Sheriff Fontoura was appointed to serve on the White House Anti-Crime Strategy Council and the White House National Forum on Drug Control. In 1993, President Clinton designated Sheriff Fontoura to join him on the podium at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick as both men addressed the impact of violent crime on the cost of health care in America. In 2004, Governor Richard Codey appointed Sheriff Fontoura to serve as a charter member on New Jersey’s Gangland Task Force;
• Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, Sheriff Fontoura was an integral part of Essex County’s Covid response team. As director of Essex County’s Office of Emergency Management, the Sheriff oversaw the development and security of the county’s Covid testing facilities, designed a state-of-the-art contact tracing unit, and built a specialized task-force task force to contribute to the rollout of Essex County’s Covid-19 Vaccine;
• Sheriff Fontoura devotes considerable time and energy to many civic and charitable causes. He is a prime fundraiser for the Greater Newark Fresh Air Fund’s Summer Camp program, which allows economically disadvantaged youth to experience the wonders of nature. During the past quarter-century, Sheriff Fontoura has generated more than $500,000 in charitable contributions for the fund’s Summer Camp program. In addition, he has raised over $1M in charitable contributions for his Annual Thanksgiving Food and Holiday Toy Drives;
• He is a member of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board for The United Way, The Salvation Army, The Star-Ledger Christmas Fund, The 200 Club of Essex County, the Ironbound Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and the Public Employees Charitable Campaign. He is also a Governor for the Cathedral Health Care System. Sheriff Fontoura’s annual Thanksgiving Food Drive for the Homeless and his Holiday Toy Drive for Needy Families donate bulk food items to scores of local social service pantries and gifts to thousands of children each year.
• Throughout his distinguished law enforcement career, Sheriff Fontoura has been the recipient of many professional and civic awards. These honors include his selection by NBC as the metropolitan area’s “Good Cop,” UNICO’s “Man of the Year,” the Newark Jaycees “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year,” the Boy Scouts “Good Scout” award, The Star-Ledger’s “Jerseyan of the Year,” and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund’s “Award of Excellence”;
• A resident of Fairfield, Sheriff Fontoura and his late wife, Mary, are the parents of three daughters and have been blessed with five grandchildren.

I have known Armando, the family man for over thirty years. I have never looked at Armando as a partisan sheriff. Despite his ballot position as a Democrat, I have admired his ability to oversee the office without a partisan edge or bend.

Armando is a man of all seasons and since 1991 has led our county during emergencies and difficult times. Armando is the face of law enforcement as he embodies the best of those who honorably wear a badge and protect and serve. I recently had a chance to speak with the former head of the FBI office in New Jersey and he too spoke glowingly of working with Armando. How’s that for high praise?

As I search for words to do justice for the gratitude, we all have for Sheriff Armando Fontoura, I found that I needed a little help, so I called upon a former president.

President Ronald Reagan said it best when on June 21, 1984, he gave a huge thank you to all the sheriffs in the US and somehow, in some magical way, I think our 40^th president was thinking about Armando when he eloquently saluted all our sheriffs.

The former president said, “Thank you for standing up for this nation’s dream of personal freedom under the rule of law. Thank you for standing up against those who transform that dream into a nightmare of wrongdoing and lawlessness. And thank you for your service to your communities, to your country, and to the cause of law and justice.”

I close by saying – Thank you Sheriff Armando Fontoura for all you have done and all that you continue to do — you have made us all feel safer, and you have been a role model for all of law enforcement. You have been the keeper of our county and I’m sure even King Alfred would salute your amazing work.