Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll has been named the 2026 Public Official of the Year by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, a statewide honor recognizing more than five decades of work in law enforcement.
The association pointed to Carroll’s record on organized crime cases and his leadership since he took over the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office in 2020. That office serves all 39 Morris County towns, Denville included.
“Prosecutor Carroll has consistently demonstrated the kind of leadership and dedication to public service that this award recognizes,” said former association president Andrew Caggiano, the Montville police chief, whose term ended in June. “His commitment to Morris County reflects the highest standards we hold our public officials to.”
Carroll began his career in the early 1970s as an Essex County investigator and assistant prosecutor. He joined the state Division of Criminal Justice in 1980, and by 1986 he was named chief of New Jersey’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Task Force, later rising to assistant attorney general.
The association credited him with leading investigations into all five La Cosa Nostra crime families operating in the state and helping secure hundreds of convictions. His work included the prosecution of Richard Kuklinski, the contract killer known as the “Iceman.”
Over the years, Carroll has trained officers at the New Jersey State Police Academy and earned commendations from the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service and the New Jersey State Police. He has also served as acting Sussex County prosecutor.
The Prosecutor’s Office has stayed busy across the county this year. It recently helped announce a multi-agency smoke shop takedown that Denville police assisted, and it handled the case of a Denville man charged in an explosives investigation this spring.
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