N. Wildwood Police Department Promotes 3 in Command Staff

NORTH WILDWOOD – North Wildwood City Council authorized the promotion of three members of the North Wildwood Police Department (NWPD) command staff, June 7, and extended the police chief’s contract to meet his retirement date.
Capt. William Etsell was promoted to deputy chief to cap off his nearly 30-year career. Etsell will retire March 31, 2024, a month before Police Chief John Stevenson, whose contract was extended to April 30, 2024.
Etsell was born and raised in Philadelphia and enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard after high school. He was hired by the NWPD as a Special Law Enforcement Officer (SLEO) Class II in 1994 and in October 1994, was hired by the West Wildwood Police Department. 
He entered the Cape May County Police Academy and graduated in 1995 and was hired as a full-time NWPD officer in 1997. 
As a patrolman, he became a member of the department’s Special Response Team and was assigned to the detective division in 2003. In 2007, he was made a seasonal sergeant for boardwalk and bars and was promoted to detective sergeant in 2008. 
He was reassigned to the patrol division in 2012 as a patrol sergeant, was promoted to lieutenant in 2014, and was named captain of operations in 2021.
Capt. Justin Robinson is a Middle Township High School graduate and was hired by the NWPD as a SLEO II in 2009 and a full-time patrolman in 2012. 
Robinson was promoted to sergeant in 2018, supervising beach, boardwalk, and patrol. 
In 2021, Robinson was promoted to lieutenant and made a patrol platoon commander.
Robinson represents the NWPD at the Cape May County Police Academy as a firearms and vehicle operations instructor. He is a graduate of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Academy.
Also promoted was Capt. Katherine Madden, who was born and raised in North Wildwood. Madden attended Margaret Mace School and Wildwood Catholic High School. 
She was hired by the NWPD as a SLEO II in 2006 and as a full-time officer in 2007. In 2011, Madden was assigned to the detective division and was promoted to sergeant in 2014. 
She was promoted to lieutenant in 2019 and has been serving as the administrative commander since 2021.
Madden has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University and is a graduate of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Academy. 
She will be attending the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, in January 2024. Madden is the daughter of retired NWPD Sgt. Tom Flounders.
Stevenson was hired by the NWPD in 1993 as a SLEO. He became a full-time patrolman in 1995 and a detective in 2002. 
Stevenson was promoted to detective sergeant in 2003 and in 2006, became a patrol sergeant. He became a patrol lieutenant in 2012 and the NWPD’s captain of operations in 2013. 
Stevenson was sworn in as the NWPD’s 13th chief of police June 20, 2021, having served 17 mayors. 
Stevenson received the Chief Harry Wilde Academic Achievement Award for the highest score in the state at the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police West Point Command and Leadership Program, received several awards and commendations as a police officer, is a certified public manager through Rutgers University, was named a member of the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police Traffic Safety Committee in 2022, and has been a member of the City of North Wildwood Joint Planning Board since 2021.   
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.