Sheriff Eric Scheffler
Eric Scheffler was elected Sheriff of Atlantic County in 2017 and re-elected in 2020. He has begun redirecting the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office's mission to focus on professional development programs that empower staff to create leaders and will result in a higher level of both efficiency and professionalism within the department.
Eric has also begun forming partnerships with leadership groups to address our most pressing issues such as the heroin epidemic, homelessness, the mentally ill, and violence plaguing our country. Eric believes that people are more similar than they are different, and that by sharing our strengths and passions we can become unstoppable.
One of the issues that Eric is compassionate about is post-traumatic stress disorder “PTSD." Our first responders go home every day with the sights, the sounds, the cries, the smell, the photographs embedded in their mind. It never goes away, it will remain there forever. We will develop a support system program for the Sheriff's Department which will be shared among the first responder community here in Atlantic County.
Eric retired as a Lieutenant with the Atlantic City Police Department with 23 years of service. During his tenure there, he served in both the Patrol and Training Divisions. His hard work and dedication led to his promotion to Shift Commander in the Patrol Division and to Commander of the Training Unit. Eric is an instructor in twenty-two different law enforcement top areas, and has personally created eleven different law enforcement instructor courses. Nineteen police departments in New Jersey are currently using Eric’s programs, including the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Eric also worked as a paraprofessional at Mainland Regional High School where he worked with at-risk youth as well as intellectually and developmentally disabled students. He has also volunteered his time as a founding member of Mainland’s “One Life Committee”, tackling heroin and opioid addiction issues in our schools. In addition to his tireless commitment to this diverse population, Eric created an option-based protocol empowering teachers and students to make decisions in the event of an active shooter/violent intruder event.
Eric is an Atlantic County native. He was raised in Margate, NJ. Eric and his wife Maria currently reside in Northfield NJ with their family.
Eric Scheffler has dedicated his life to protecting our families and our community.
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