Secaucus was originally formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 12, 1900, from portions of North Bergen. After the appointment of a borough clerk, by the first ordinance, police protection was provided for.  Secaucus was now policed by marshals under the jurisdiction of the council police committee with Andrew Bremmer as chief..  A barroom ice box located in the rear room of Sunnyside, an old tavern, served as the borough jail until Town Hall was built.  

The marshals were replaced by a regular police department in 1916.  Thereafter, on June 7, 1917, Secaucus was incorporated as a town, replacing Secaucus borough. Edward P. Doyle became the first full-time police officer of the Secaucus Police Department and later became Chief of Police in 1927 until he retired in 1946. Chiefs of Police to follow were Arthur Temple, Alfred L. Cormann, Dennis Corcoran.  In two instances in the history of the Secaucus Police Department a Deputy Police Chief was the Acting Chief of the Secaucus Police Department, Nicholas Zaccario (1974-1980) and John Cerny (2014-2015).

A dark day for the Secaucus Police Department was on October 5, 1970.  On that date, Secaucus Police Officer George Rennie was killed in the line of duty after being involved in a motorcycle accident on Paterson Plank Road in the area of Cedar Lane.  

Police Chief Kevin Flaherty, was appointed Officer in Charge of the Secaucus Police Department in December 2014 and formally appointed to Chief of Police in April 2015 and retired in 2020.  The current Police Chief, Dennis Miller, was appointed as the 6th Chief of Police on March 10, 2020.  The Secaucus Police Department remains a “non-civil service” police department.