Trooper Christopher S. Scales was a front-line partner in the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey’s brain injury prevention efforts. Trooper Scales was struck and killed on December 3, 2002 while conducting a seatbelt enforcement detail on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey honored State Trooper Christopher Scales posthumously in May 2003 by introducing the Trooper Christopher Scales Memorial Award. This award is presented each year to a member of the law enforcement community who has demonstrated exemplary efforts in promoting public safety and brain injury prevention.
2009 Recipient
Officer Douglas Higgins, Manchester Police Department
Officer Higgins is a patrolman and a highly regarded member of the Manchester Township Police Department and its Department of Traffic Safety. Throughout his career he has witnessed the devastating impact that a brain injury can have on the lives of individuals and their families. He has made a personal commitment to use these powerful experiences to promote brain injury awareness and prevention so that people will think and act more responsibly when it comes to public safety. Officer Higgins stresses the message that one bad decision can result in a lifetime of consequences. He teaches defensive driving and delivers “Alive at 25,” a driving safety program for high school students that is aimed at reducing automobile crashes involving young drivers and passengers. He is also a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and has taken the lead in implementing the “Think Positive: A Helmet Safety Reward Program” in Manchester. This initiative helps to increase helmet use in an effort to raise awareness of brain injury prevention and helmet safety with wheeled sports.
Past Recipients
2008 - Lt. Colonel Juan Mattos Jr.
2007 – Chief William J. Cicchetti, Washington Township Police
2006 – Lieutenant Paul Vereb, Long Beach Township Police
2005 – Detective Sergeant Peter Ziegler
2004 – Officer Mary Ann Collura
2003 – Trooper Christopher S. Scales
Make A Nomination
If you know a law enforcement officer dedicated to the prevention of brain injuries and deserving of the Trooper Scales Memorial Award, please take the time to nominate them. The deadline is April 1 every year.