Undersheriff Gary Giardina sworn in as Passaic County acting sheriff

Out of tragedy, a new era started in the Passaic County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning.

Executive Undersheriff Gary Giardina was sworn in as acting sheriff by Presiding Judge Darren Del Sardo of the state Superior Court. Giardina, a longtime resident of Wayne, has more than 45 years of experience in law enforcement and spent the last decade in the Sheriff's Office.

Public Information Officer William Maer said in a Wednesday statement that Giardina met with senior staff members Tuesday night and has been working with them to ensure that all members of the department have access to grief counseling in the wake of former Sheriff Richard Berdnik's death on Tuesday afternoon.

Berdnik, a five-time sheriff first elected in 2010, fatally shot himself Tuesday afternoon at a restaurant in Clifton, according to multiple sources. His death, which friends and colleagues have described as unfathomable, remained under investigation by the county Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.

"This is clearly a sad day," Maer said. "The department's hearts go out to the Berdnik family and Sheriff Berdnik's friends and longtime colleagues."

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Despite the abrupt change, Maer said, operations were continuing as normal on Wednesday. Giardina was in contact with the governor's office and met with executive staff. He also reached out to the county prosecutor, county administrator and municipal police chiefs regarding the transition, Maer said.

Giardina joined the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office as its business administrator in 2014 after retiring as the chief of police in his hometown of Clifton. In total, he spent 36 years with the Clifton Police Department. He started as an officer in 1978, the year Berdnik graduated from Clifton High School. Roughly five years later, Berdnik joined him on the force. Both rose through the ranks, with Giardina reaching the rank of chief in 2010, the same year Berdnik was tapped to become county sheriff.

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Giardina was sworn in as executive undersheriff in January 2022 to manage day-to-day operations and assist Berdnik on policy development and strategic planning. He was second in command of the department and first in line to become acting sheriff.

The state has conflicting laws regarding vacancies. However, after the 2018 resignation of Michael Saudino, the former Bergen County sheriff, officials from the Attorney General’s Office and the State Department came to a consensus. Vacancies in the county Sheriff's Office can be filled by the governor with the advice and consent of the state Senate as long as the appointee is of the same political party as that of the previous incumbent. The appointment continues until a successor is elected. In this case, that will be at the next general election.

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In New Jersey, county sheriffs are elected to three-year terms that are staggered among the 21 counties. Passaic County is presently grouped with 11 others in a cycle. Bergen, Morris and Sussex counties are among them. Berdnik last won election in 2022 with an 8,000-vote margin over Republican Mason Maher, a Paterson police lieutenant.

Before Giardina, Passaic County's last acting sheriff was Charles Meyers. Meyers was the undersheriff in charge of the Passaic County Jail in August 2010, when former county Sheriff Jerry Speziale abruptly resigned to take a more lucrative role in the Port Authority Police Department.

Speziale had already won the 2010 Democratic primary. County Democrats then offered his place on the November ballot to Berdnik, who took office Jan. 1, 2011. Meyers remained in charge until then, working to reduce the jail population through alternative detention measures and ushering in layoffs to start 2011.

The Sheriff's Office is currently dealing with the turmoil of pending layoffs to compensate for the closure of the Passaic County Jail and following the recent arrest of three corrections officers in connection with an alleged assault on a handcuffed inmate.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Undersheriff Gary Giardina sworn in as Passaic County acting sheriff