FORMER U.S. MARSHAL’S MEMOIR NAMED SECOND-BEST NON-FICTION BOOK   BY THE PUBLIC SAFETY WRITERS ASSOCIATION IN A NATIONAL COMPETITION

“Jersey Lawman,” a memoir of former U.S. marshal James Plousis’s 40 years in law enforcement, has won second place for nonfiction in the Public Safety Writers Association’s national competition for 2020.

The award, which PSWA announced on July 12, recognizes a book whose proceeds go to the U.S. Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund. Freelance writer George Ingram collaborated with Plousis on “Jersey Lawman.”

The first-person narrative tells the story of Plousis and his career in law enforcement--from rookie cop in a rough New Jersey Pine Barrens town to the youngest elected county sheriff in America at that time; and from his appointment as U.S. marshal for New Jersey to his assignment as chairman of the New Jersey Parole Board.

Plousis was a police officer in Ocean City, NJ, before being elected sheriff of Cape May County at age 32. He served in that post for five terms, earning national recognition for his innovative approaches to law enforcement, public safety, and incarceration.

In 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Plousis as U.S. marshal. In this position he fought to bring the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Safe Surrender program to the Garden State and worked on high-profile cases here and abroad. For seven years afterward he was chairman of the New Jersey Parole Board. He now chairs the Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City.

In the book Plousis also relates many personal efforts, including a humanitarian mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

When they began working on the book, the two Ocean City, NJ, residents agreed that proceeds from “Jersey Lawman” would go to the U.S. Marshals Survivors Benefit Fund. It is a private, non-profit corporation formed “exclusively for charitable and educational disbursements of its funds to the surviving family members of active United States Marshals, Deputy U.S. Marshals, Marshals Service Employees, and Special Deputy U.S. Marshals who are killed in the line of duty.”

Daniel J. O’Donnell, chairman of the fund, called their offer “a generous contribution to help the families of slain U.S. marshals.”

The Public Safety Writers Association was founded in 1997. Its membership is open to both new and experienced, published, and not yet published writers. Members include police officers, civilian police personnel, firefighters, fire support personnel, emergency personnel, security personnel and others in the public safety field.  Also represented are those who write about public safety, including mystery writers, magazine writers, journalists and those who are simply interested in the genre. 

“Jersey Lawman” is published by Publishing with J.A.M, a division of Callahan Services, LLC. The book’s website is www.jerseylawman.com

(Contact for media: James Plousis can be reached at (609) 399-2124 or kpocnj@aol.com)

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