Richard McDonald is currently a captain with the West Orange Police Department (NJ), a CALEA Accredited agency since 2006. Rich has a BA degree in Criminal Justice from the College of New Jersey and is in the process of achieving his MA degree in Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Captain McDonald has been the Accreditation Manager for the West Orange Police Department since 2011 and been involved with four on-site assessments. In 2020, Captain McDonald was selected by CALEA to be a certified assessor for Law Enforcement standards.
Captain Richard McDonald has been a Guest Lecturer at numerous universities including Rutgers University School of Business and Kean University. He has also been an instructor for the NJ Public Safety Accreditation Coalition at their annual conference, and has spoken in numerous corporate environments. He has been certified as a law enforcement instructor by the NJ Police Training Commission, Louisiana State University/Department of Homeland Security instructor program, Awareness Protective Consultants, and Monadnock.
Captain McDonald was hand selected to participate with the NJ Department of Personnel Linkage Panel to assess Tasks and KSA (knowledge, skills and abilities) in the formulation of upcoming promotional exams for the position of Police Sergeant.
Captain McDonald was honored to receive the NJ Public Safety Accreditation Coalition Honor Society Award winner for 2010. Due to his work in the creation and implementation of the Operation HOPE Program, Captain McDonald was honored to receive a State of New Jersey Joint Legislative Resolution, the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Award from the United Clergy of the Oranges, as the Coalition Member of the Year Award from the Essex County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team and an award of recognition from the Essex County Opioid Use Awareness Task Force.