{"id":29507,"date":"2025-04-23T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T07:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=29507"},"modified":"2025-04-13T13:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T20:09:15","slug":"new-jersey-state-police-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/04\/23\/new-jersey-state-police-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey State Police Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

Here’s something different:\u00a0 A visit to the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

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A statue of a New Jersey State Trooper on the Museum grounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’d seen references to the NJSP Museum on Facebook and elsewhere, and being back in New Jersey a short while ago, Susie and I found ourselves casting about for things to do.\u00a0 Ordinarily, our visits to the Garden State include the same stops:\u00a0 Lunch at the Shrimp Box in Point Pleasant (awesome seafood), every once in a while a visit to Bahr’s in the Highlands<\/a> (another spot for awesome food), maybe a trip to Asbury Park<\/a> (think Bruce Springsteen and Danny Devito), a few of the Soprano’s filming locations<\/a>, the Rutgers University campus, the Old Mill<\/a> in Deans, New Hope<\/a> (just across the Delaware River), and a few of our other standard stops.\u00a0 This time we wanted to explore a bit more, and I put the New Jersey State Police Museum on the list.\u00a0 I knew that it had a couple of vintage motorcycles, and I figured it would probably have a few firearms on display.\u00a0 Guns and motorcycles fit the ExhaustNotes theme.<\/p>\n

The New Jersey State Police is a paramilitary, well-disciplined, and impressive organization.\u00a0 \u00a0I’d call it a STRAC outfit (in Army slang, STRAC is an acronym derived from skilled, tough, and ready around the clock).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>One thing I’ve never seen is an out-of-shape NJ State Trooper.<\/p>\n

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A statue of Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf near the NJSP Museum entrance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Jersey State Troopers are the Marines and Green Berets of the police world.\u00a0 That didn’t happen accidentally:\u00a0 The guy who formed the NJ State Police a century ago was none other than Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf.\u00a0 Not the guy who led US troops during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 (that H. Normal Schwarzkopf was his son), but the original.\u00a0 Colonel Schwarzkopf was a US Military Academy graduate, and when he formed the NJ State Police, his vision was a military organization with the same look as that instilled at West Point.\u00a0 I’d say he succeeded.<\/p>\n

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Trooper Ralph Dowgin gracing The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I touched on the NJ State Police when I wrote The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles<\/a>.\u00a0 The cover photo shows Captain Ralph Dowgin on a 1934 Harley-Davidson.\u00a0 Captain Dowgin went on to command Troop D, the NJSP branch that patrolled the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.\u00a0 We also wrote about Jerry Dowgin<\/a>, Captain Dowgin’s son and a friend of mine who owned a 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler (a bike featured here and in a Motorcycle Classics<\/a> magazine story).<\/p>\n

Getting to the NJSP Museum was relatively easy, although the location was tucked away on the NJSP Headquarters grounds.\u00a0 We just plugged the name into Waze, and after meandering through a bunch of small streets in West Trenton, we were at a manned gate.\u00a0 The location is essentially a military compound.\u00a0 The nice young lady at the gate called ahead to confirm the Museum was open (it was), and then she raised the gate.\u00a0 We followed her instructions and the map she gave to us, and we were there.\u00a0 We were the only visitors, so we had the place to ourselves.<\/p>\n

The NJ State Police guns story is an interesting one.<\/p>\n

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When the New Jersey State Police organization started in 1921, their first duty weapon was the Colt double-action revolver (a six shooter) chambered in .38 Special. This very handgun you see here was issued to Colonel Schwarzkopf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Four cylinders full of .38 Special ammo, for a total load of 30 rounds carried by each Trooper. Reloads had to have been painstakingly slow back in the day. I remember seeing these ammo carriers on State Troopers when I was a kid.\u00a0 With their Glock sidearms today, the gun itself and one additional magazine exceeds all the rounds seen above.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another .38 Special Colt revolver on display.\u00a0 Troopers have been assigned sequential badge numbers from the very beginning, with Trooper No. 1 being H. Norman Schwarzkopf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in the day, the NJ State Police also issued the .38 Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece to their Troopers, which was a 6-shot revolver with adjustable sights.\u00a0 This one has a 6-inch barrel.\u00a0 I’ve owned a few of the Smith and Wesson revolvers; they are good guns.<\/p>\n

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The Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece. These are beautiful revolvers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Colt
Colt released a commemorative NJSP revolver, with high polish blue and the NJSP emblem. Commemorative guns, for the most part, don’t appreciate at the same rate the basic (i.e., non-commemorative) guns. I’ve owned a few commemorative guns, but not this model.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More information on the Colt NJSP 75th Anniversary commemorative revolver.\u00a0 We previously visited the Colt Custom Shop; you can read about that here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In those early days, the NJ State Police also used 1903A1 Springfield rifles. I have a 1903A1 in near perfect condition<\/a> and I’ve written about shooting cast<\/a> and jacketed<\/a> bullets in it, and the rifle’s complex rear sight.\u00a0 They are nice rifles and they are collectible.\u00a0 Truth be told, though, I can shoot tighter groups with my 91\/30 Mosin Nagant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A NJSP 1903A1 Springfield. The 1903A1 has the 1903’s more complex right sight and the so-called “scant” stock. I was surprised to see this. You don’t encounter to many 1903A1 rifles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later in their history, the NJ State Police used Ruger .357 Magnum double-action, stainless steel revolvers.<\/p>\n

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Ruger revolvers used by the NJ State Police, in both 4-inch and 6-inch barreled versions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the 1980s, many police departments made the switch from revolvers to 9mm semi-automatic handguns.\u00a0 Not all choices worked well for the NJ State Police.\u00a0 One firearm, the H&K 9mm squeeze cocker<\/a>, was particularly troublesome.\u00a0 The NJSP experienced numerous accidental discharges.\u00a0 Sometime after that, the NJSP went to SIG handguns.\u00a0 That didn’t work out, either.\u00a0 When the NJ State Police made the switch to SIGs, the handguns had reliability issues, and when SIG couldn’t fix the problems, the NJ State Police sued SIG.\u00a0 It seemed like the NJSP couldn’t catch a break in their quest to adopt a 9mm handgun. Ultimately, the NJSP went with Glock 9mm handguns.\u00a0 \u00a0That worked out well.<\/p>\n

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A Glock up top, and several SIG handguns. The SIG at the bottom of this photo is chambered in .45 ACP.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another SIG handgun in the NJ State Police Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Good intentions, but bad results. It’s unfortunate. I believe that SIG makes the finest 9mm handgun<\/a> in the world. But I don’t carry one for a living (like the New Jersey State Troopers do).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The 9mm Glock currently carried by New Jersey State Troopers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The firearms exhibits also displayed other long guns used by the New Jersey State Police.<\/p>\n

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A .45 ACP Thompson submachine gun the NJSP used decades ago, and an M16. A submachine gun can fire in the fully automatic mode (like a machine gun). The “submachine gun” designation typically means the gun uses a pistol cartridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An exhibit displaying a sampling of confiscated weapons. New Jersey police agencies typically confiscate between 7,000 and 10,000 guns annually. All are delivered to the NJSP Ballistics Unit for destruction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New Jersey State Police also have a rich tradition using motorcycles, although they no longer use motorcycles for patrol duties.\u00a0 The NJSP has a few modern Harleys, but these are used for ceremonial functions only.\u00a0 In the early days, the NJSP used motorcycles year round, and in New Jersey, the winters can get cold, wet, snowy, and icy.\u00a0 Back in the day, the NJSP used tire chains when it snowed.\u00a0 That’s hard to imagine.<\/p>\n

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An early NJSP Motors group photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mittens used for cold weather riding. Those guys were tough. Unless they are electrically-heated, mittens like these don’t keep your hands warm for long.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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New Jersey State Trooper Justin Dintino, a motor officer who went on to become the 10th leader of the New Jersey State Troopers. Colonel Dintino graduated from the NJSP Academy two years after I was born.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Trooper E. Paul Sjostrom with his Harley-Davidson police motorcycle in 1925. Back then, the NJSP had 40 Harleys, 40 horses, 20 cars, and a single truck to patrol the entire state of New Jersey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A more recent Harley police motorcycle. As mentioned above, the NJSP no longer uses motorcycles for patrol duties.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A macro shot of the tank and engine on the NJSP Harley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Distinctive colors and a distinctive emblem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A 1948 Harley Panhead used by the NJ State Police.\u00a0 It had a hand shift and a foot clutch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The tombstone taillight Harleys used in 1948.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Harley siren used back in the 1940s and 1950s was activated by pivoting the entire siren such that it was friction driven by the rear tire. I used to have a similar siren on my Schwinn bicycle, which drove our neighbors nuts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Harleys rode with the NJSP from the very beginning. This is a 1921 NJSP Harley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A closer photo of the 1921 Harley’s V-Twin engine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the NJSP Museum’s exhibits was a wanted poster for a particular person.\u00a0 That wanted poster is for Joanne Chesimard, who is a fugitive being sheltered by Cuba.\u00a0 Chesimard participated in the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in May 1973.\u00a0 The murder occurred very near where my family lived.\u00a0 Another NJ State Trooper had pulled over a car driven by Clark Squire (Chesimard was also in the car).\u00a0 Foerster arrived in a backup patrol car.\u00a0 \u00a0A gun battle ensued, Foerster was murdered, and Squire escaped into the woods just to the east of our home.<\/p>\n

Squire remained at large, hiding in the woods, for several days.\u00a0 We thought he had escaped from the area, but police officers continued the search. Squire finally surrendered to a local police officer.\u00a0 We believed that if the NJ State Police had found him, Squire would not have been brought in alive (and that would have been okay with everyone I knew).<\/p>\n

Squire, Chesimard, and a third person were convicted of murdering Foerster and sentenced to life in prison.\u00a0 Chesimard subsequently escaped and found her way to Cuba, where she lives in freedom to this day (sheltered by a Cuban government that refuses to extradite her to the United States).\u00a0 Incredibly, when Barack Obama wanted to recognize the Castro regime and lift sanctions on Cuba, returning Chesimard to serve out her sentence was not part of the deal.\u00a0 She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted<\/a> List to this day.<\/p>\n

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In yet another disappointment related to this Foerster murder, Squire was recently released on parole (50 years into what should have been a life sentence).\u00a0 I know. It’s not right.<\/p>\n

To get back to the main topic of this blog, if you ever find yourself in New Jersey you might want to spend a few hours visiting the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton.\u00a0 It’s free, it’s a great museum, and it’s an opportunity to learn a lot about one of the most elite police organizations in America.\u00a0 We enjoyed it.\u00a0 You will, too.<\/p>\n

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