After serving in law enforcement for 26 years, Detective Christopher Aversa plans to retire this year to spend time with his son stationed in Alaska before he is deployed overseas for the military. In his 26 years, Aversa has worked in three different departments and has accomplished quite a lot personally in his career. Aversa started his career working in the county prison where he learned how to deal and talk to people.
“I grew up in Scotch Plains and in the state prison I was dealing with people from Newark, Patterson, and Elizebeth and it taught me how to deal and talk to people,” Aversa said. “Just because people make mistakes, they’re not necessarily bad people.”
In 2014, Aversa and some of his fellow officers were awarded Medals of Valor for their bravery in a Fanwood shootout. Aversa said that the standoff lasted for over 12 hours of negotiating until the suspect gave himself in.
Aversa said that his inspiration to become a police officer was his uncle who was an NYPD officer.