Eric Prach entered emergency services in 2006 by joining the Chester First Aid Squad at the age of 16 and still is a member currently. Throughout the course of being a volunteer member, training was always a top priority and Eric received countless hours of training in a wide variety of topics but mostly focused on incident management and technical rescue. He holds nationally recognized credentials in incident command, motor vehicle rescue, ice/cold water rescue, trench and collapse rescue. He additionally maintains certifications in Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Pediatric Emergency Pre-Hospital Provider (PEPP) and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC). During his time with the first aid squad, he served as the department’s training officer as well as the position of lieutenant and is currently a life member. He additionally played a large role in the initial formation of a formal EMS bike patrol program and in fire fighter rehabilitation/support services. In 2008, he began working as an EMT with Atlantic Ambulance and then in 2009 worked as an EMT with the Hopatcong Ambulance Squad for the next seven years. He is a certified CPR instructor and in 2013 began creating and teaching over 30 approved New Jersey EMT courses.

In 2013, Eric graduated from the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy (MCPSTA) 80th Basic Police Class and began his career with the Hanover Township Police Department and is currently assigned to the Patrol Division. During his time with the department, he has been a proactive patrol officer with a heavy focus on gangs, graffiti, human trafficking, prostitution, homeless populations, intelligence gathering and the use of motor vehicle stops, hotels, intelligence and street contacts in conducting criminal investigations. Throughout his career, Eric has taken on unique and often overlooked areas of law enforcement as areas of interest to conduct criminal investigations. As a result of these different experiences, he has served as the department’s Gang Liaison and been twice assigned to the department’s Detective Bureau in both a normal detective capacity as well as for special assignments. He additionally is a certified dispatcher and has participated in a number of drug-oriented community educational programs for both teenagers and adults. Due to these various specializations, he has been be involved in multiple different operations throughout the state related to various types of violent crimes, narcotics, gangs, graffiti and prostitution. Eric has been deemed as an ‘expert witness’ and provided qualified testimony on both Gang Investigations & Identification as well as Graffiti Investigations & Identification. He also is a current member of the following professional organization; East Coast Gang Investigators Association (ECGIA), New Jersey Narcotics Enforcement Officer Association (NJNEOA) and National Latino Peace Officers Association (NLPOA).

In conjunction with officers from other municipal and county agencies, Eric was part of the Responsible School Violence Prevention (RSVP) active shooter instructor cadre, who were responsible for creating, implementing and training over 500 officers in tactics to respond to active shooter/killer incidents. With his experiences as an EMT, Eric was added to the department’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) and has completed Basic Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Fundamentals. He jointly oversees the local Rescue Task Force (RTF) with the local fire departments in preparation for the response to active shooter/killer incidents. In 2021, he completed the selection process to become a Medical Specialist with the Morris County Special Operations Group (SOG) which is the emergency medical component of the Morris County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT) tasked to care for downed police officers assigned to the tactical team. SERT and SOG are primarily tasked with the execution of high-risk search warrants, handling of barricaded subjects, active shooter response and any other law enforcement function that requires specialized tactics, equipment and training.

Training has always been a top priority for Eric and he is a certified Field Training Officer (FTO), which has allowed him to train several officers within his agency. Within the department he has conducted numerous in-service training sessions including; CPR, first responder recertification, officer down and active shooter response. He has also completed the Methods of Instruction program and regularly teaches initial training at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy- Basic Police class, including; Gang Awareness, Motor Vehicle Stops and Active Shooter Response. Finally, Eric has been hosting an annual gang seminar with a wide variety of topics and speakers that draws over 100 attendees each year. He has additionally provided blocks of instruction during other training seminars in topics related to gangs, graffiti and intelligence to law enforcement audiences, as well as at the County College of Morris.

Eric graduated the County College of Morris with an Associates of Humanities & Social Science and then graduated from Saint Elizabeth University with a Bachelors of Psychology. In 2017, he attended Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduated with a Masters of Administrative Science with a certificate in Emergency Management.

Despite these credentials, Eric is a self-proclaimed “lifelong student”. Having the attitude that he does not know it all and is always willing to learn something new, has been a major driving factor in his ability to teach and instruct others within emergency services.