Joel Trella

Biography

Joel G. Trella began his law enforcement career with the Bergen County Police Department. Joel served in the Bergen County Police Department for 29 years from 1969 to his retirement in 1998. His many assignments included uniformed, investigative, training and administrative duties. He retired in 1998 after serving his last 7 years as Chief of Police. After retiring he was appointed Director of the Bergen County Office of Highway Traffic Safety where he directed educational programs for law enforcement and the public focusing on preventing traffic fatalities through education, enforcement and engineering. In November 2001, Joel was elected Bergen County Sheriff and served in that role from 2002 through December 2004. His duties and responsibilities included leading a 500 member Sheriff’s Department, operating a 1,145 bed county jail, providing security for the Bergen County Courthouse and operating a county wide crime scene unit. From 2006-2009 Professor Trella was employed by the United States Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey as a Law Enforcement Coordination Specialist where he co-coordinated interagency law enforcement activities and served as the District Office Security Manager. Sheriff Trella holds a Masters in Administrative Science and a Bachelor’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a AAS, Police Science from Bergen Community College. He is Certified Public Manager and a graduate of FBI National Academy and National Sheriff’s Institute.

Research Interest

Highway Traffic Safety