Admiral’s Cove top cop honored

Here’s something you probably didn’t know.

There actually is an award for Private Security Officer of the Year from the Palm Beach County Association of Chiefs of Police.

And you also probably didn’t know that the 2016 honor went to Jay Alpert, director of security for the Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter.

So what made the private officer a public winner?

“(Alpert’s) original goal of opening a dialogue in order to maximize efforts and prevent a problem, rather than respond to one, has been fulfilled and indeed surpassed. This program may well serve as a regional model,” Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Stephen J. Stepp wrote in his letter recommending Alpert.

Admiral’s Cove is a gated 1,000-acre community with about 900 residences, about three-fourths on a waterway. The development has 13 miles of roads and 7 miles of navigable waterways. Bill DiPaolo There are about 600 boats in the development, including about 70 in the private marina next to the clubhouse.

When Alpert took the position two years ago, he started regular meetings with local police agencies, including the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.

The meetings have expanded and now are held on the first Tuesday of every month at different communities in the northern end of the county. Three dozen agencies regularly attend.

Guest speakers have included Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach County Director of Emergency Management Bill Johnson and Robert Molleda, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

The most recent guest speaker was from the Internal Revenue Service, who discussed identity fraud.

“I get speakers with important information that the different departments can share. That encourages cooperation between police departments,” said Alpert.

The waterfront community off Alternate A1A was in February named the first private development in Florida to be designated “storm ready” by the National Weather Service.

Before his private security career, Alpert served 27 years with the Hackensack Police in New Jersey. He also was the undersheriff and then the sheriff of Bergen County, N.J., a department with 550 sworn officers, for eight years.

Alpert was the general manager of the Office of Emergency Management for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and captain with the Port Authority Police Department.

The county Police Chiefs Association gives the award to a private security officer every year. The 2015 Security Officer of the Year was David Fleisch of G4S Security in Jupiter.