Three veteran Princeton police officers have been promoted to higher ranks.
Detective Sgt. Thomas Lagomarsino was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and Cpl. Don Mathews was promoted to sergeant. Detective Eric Dawson was promoted to corporal.
Lagomarsino joined the Princeton Police Department in 2006. He served as a patrolman until he was promoted to detective in 2011. He was promoted to sergeant in 2017. He served as a patrol sergeant, the Safe Neighborhoods sergeant and as a detective sergeant in the Detective Bureau.
Lagomarsino graduated from the Cape May County Police Academy. He has served as a field training officer for new police officers; an evidence custodian and evidence technician; a defensive tactics coordinator, and a humane law enforcement officer.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Iona College and a master’s degree in administrative sciences from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also attended the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Academy.
Mathews joined the Princeton Police Department in 2014, after 12 years as a Mansfield Township police officer. He graduated from the Burlington County Police Academy in 2002 and joined the Mansfield Township Police Department.
Mathews has served as a patrol officer and a detective since joining the Princeton Police Department. He has served as a field training officer for new police officers. He is currently assigned as a firearms instructor and a humane law enforcement officer. He is a member of the Serious Collision Response Team.
Mathews was previously assigned to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit as a narcotics task force officer.
Mathews holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Richard Stockton State College.
Dawson joined the Princeton Police Department in 2015. He began his law enforcement career as a sheriff’s officer with the Burlington County Sheriff’s Office in 2004. He joined the Mansfield Township Police Department in 2007 as a police officer, and was promoted to detective in 2015, prior to joining the Princeton Police Department.
Dawson was named the Mansfield Township Police Department’s Officer of the Year in 2008 and 2010. He received the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Law Enforcement Distinguished Service award in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Upon joining the Princeton Police Department, Dawson was assigned to the Patrol Bureau as a patrol officer. He was a field training officer and also was the officer in charge. He was assigned to the Detective Bureau in 2021. He served on the Serious Collision Response Team.
Dawson received an associate degree in criminal justice from Mercer County Community College in 2003. He graduated from the Burlington County Police Academy in 2004 as an alternate route candidate.
Police departments send newly-hired police recruits to a police academy, unless the officer has already graduated from a police academy. The police department pays for the recruit’s training.
But the alternate route recruit system allows a civilian who is seeking a career as a police officer – and who has not been hired by a police department – to enroll in a police academy. The recruit pays for the training out of pocket.
The alternate route police recruit trains alongside recruits who have been hired by a police department.
