Meet Our Women’s Leadership Summit Keynote
In 2011, Mildred S. Scott was sworn in as Sheriff of Middlesex County. She is the first female Sheriff for the county and the first African American Sheriff in New Jersey. In 1968, she started off as one of the first females to graduate the county Police Academy to then be sworn in as Sheriff’s Officer, becoming Sergeant, Lieutenant and Chief Warrant Officer until she was made Chief Sheriff Officer in 1991, the first female to serve as the highest law enforcement officer in Middlesex County.
During her long career at the Sheriff’s Department she supervised Sheriff’s Officers, oversaw courthouse security, instituted fingerprinting programs in schools, established a senior citizen home security program and coordinated prisoner transport services within Middlesex County. Mildred retired from the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department in 1995. She was elected as Piscataway’s Councilwoman in 1996 and served until 2008. In 2008, she was elected Middlesex County Freeholder, serving as Chair of the Committee of Law and Public Safety from 2009-2010, until she assumed her position as Sheriff.
During her term, she made substantial changes to the personnel structure of the Sheriff’s Office and implemented major improvements in technology. Other achievements include: advances in security of courthouses and satellite offices. In addition, Sheriff Scott announced the first D.A.R.E/Jr. Academy in 2018.
She is a Gold Life Member of the Policeman’s Benevolent Association, who has received the following awards: Perth Amboy Hall of Fame, NAACP Award for Outstanding Service, and has served on the Executive Board of the Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey. In 2013, Sheriff Scott was chosen as the Middlesex County 200 Club Honoree. In 2017, Sheriff Scott received the Law Enforcement Humanitarian Award from The American Conference on Diversity. In 2018, she was elected Chairperson of Middlesex County Democratic Organization Black Caucus. The Supreme Court has reappointed Sheriff Scott to the 2018-2020 Supreme Court Committee on Court Security. Mildred and her husband Richard have three children and seven grandchildren.