EAST BRUNSWICK – Detective Sergeant Laurie B. Cahill, of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, a graduate of the Ocean County Vocational Technical School (OCVTS), has been honored as a “Successful Graduate” by the New Jersey Council of County Vocational Technical Schools. The award was presented at the group’s second annual awards dinner at The Chateau, here.

Detective Sgt. Cahill, of Stafford Township , is supervisor of the Sheriff’s Department’s Missing Persons and Professional Standards Unit. A member of the Sheriff’s Department since 1984, she handles cases of missing and exploited people, with a focus on children.

A 1983 graduate of the Toms River High School North, she also earned certification in the OCVTS photography program. She later utilized here vocational skills as a member of the department’s crime photography unit. She earned an associate’s degree in 1988 at Ocean County College . She is a graduate of the Ocean County Police Academy and also completed courses at the FBI National Academy in Quantico , VA. The detective serves on the academy’s New Jersey Chapter Executive Board. In 2005, she will become president of the 600-member organization.

She is pursing a bachelor’s degree at Georgian Court College , Lakewood .

Detective Sgt. Cahill is a member of the OCVTS Law and Public Safety Academy Advisory Committee, a student mentor, and an instructor in the academy.

Joseph J. Harding, a member of the OCVTS Board of Education, represented the school at the ceremony.

The New Jersey Council of County Vocational Technical Schools is the statewide association of school board members and superintendents representing New Jersey ’s 21 county vocational and technical school districts. Enrolling more than 64,000 high school and adult students, the schools are New Jersey ’s primary delivery system for occupational, vocation and technical education.