Former police chief is parade's Grand Marshal

Sparta — This year, the Sparta Elks have chosen retired Chief of Police Ernest I. Reigstad as this year’s Grand Marshal of the 4th of July Parade.
Reigstad was born January 1961 in Sussex, New Jersey and has resided in Sparta Township his entire life. He is the eldest of four children, raised by his parents Ernest A. and Helen Reigstad. Ernest attended Sparta schools and participated in Football, Ski Racing and Track & Field while at Sparta High School. After High School, he attended the County College of Morris and then William Paterson College. He graduated from William Paterson in 1985 with a degree in Social Studies/Education. Upon graduation, he taught Middle School and High School for several years before becoming a police officer.
Ernest joined the Sparta Police Department in August 1988, attended the Morris County Police Academic and graduated 1st in his class December 1988. Upon graduation, he began his career with Sparta Township Police Department as a patrol office. After several years as a patrol officer Ernerst quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to Sergeant in February 1996, Lieutenant in 1999 and ultimately Chief of Police in in September 2003. He retired in February 2017 after spending nearly half his career as Chief of Police and almost 29 years as a Police Officer.
As Chief of Police, Ernest accomplished a great deal. This included overseeing the building of a new police headquarters as part of a new Town Hall, upgrading and modernizing police rules and regulations, upgrading the mobile video recorders in all patrol vehicles, obtaining body cameras for every Sparta Police Officer, installing a modern digital radio and 911 system, acquiring a permanent medicine drop box for the police department lobby, an automated license plate reader, a boat to be deployed by the Fire Department for water rescue, an IT department in the Police Department staffed by civilian employees, a digital bar code evidence tracking system for the police evidence room, establishment of the STEP and CERT program in Sparta, establishment of the Police Youth Division where Sparta Police Officers interact with youth and the hiring/promoting of the majority of the currently employed Sparta police officers.
In addition to standard police training, Ernest has a Master’s Degree in Human Resource management from Seton Hall University and holds additional certifications from the University of North Florida, Rutgers University and Northwestern University. He is a court accepted expert in automobile crash reconstruction, use of force by police, traffic engineering, police policy and management and police training. He currently utilizes those skills as an independent consultant.
Ernest and his wife Candy continue to reside in the Lake Mohawk section of Sparta Township and will celebrate their 29th anniversary this June. They have twin 25-year old daughters, Alexa and Brianna, who also reside in Sparta. The entire family shares a tremendous love, pride and passion for Sparta and giving back is something that Ernest has always believed strongly in. While employed as a Sparta Police Officer, he served in a volunteer capacity as Sparta Township Emergency Management Coordinator for seven years, director of Sparta PAL for over 20 years, coached countless youth sports teams and served on the board of directors for several sports leagues. After retirement from the police department, he continues to volunteer his time to lead the Sparta PAL Program and manage the Sparta PAL building.
The parade takes place on Sunday, July 2, at 10 am, beginning at East Shore Trail and Twin Elm.