MORRIS COUNTY — Democrat Philadelphia Sheriff-elect Rochelle Bilal has named Dr. Louis Valori to help lead her 23-member transition team and implement her goals when she takes office in January 2020. Valori is Corresponding Secretary of Morris County Republican Committee and also Parsippany Republican County Committee Chair. Valori was Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills Council President until he lost reelection in November 2017 to newcomers Democrat Emily Peterson and Democrat Janice McCarthy.
Bilal is a 27-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department and secretary of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP. She instructed recruits at the Philadelphia Police Training Center and served in the Special Victims Unit and on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas task force, an interagency partnership that includes city, state and federal law enforcement throughout Delaware Valley.
Bilal is also president of the Guardian Civic League, an organization of black law-enforcement officers, and secretary of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP.
When she’s sworn in January 6 as Philadelphia’s first elected female sheriff, she will inherit an office rife with scandal and low morale. Outgoing Sheriff Jewell Williams has been named in a handful of lawsuits filed by office employees accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliation, and creating a hostile work environment.
She will lead an office charged with providing security in courtrooms and transporting prisoners to court, among other duties. The office has an annual budget of $25 million and more than 400 employees, more than 300 of whom are in uniform.
Rochelle Bilal ran for sheriff pledging to reform an office long scarred by scandal. She will follow the quaint city custom of throwing a party for a corrupt politician headed to federal prison. Former Sheriff John Green, started a five-year stint behind bars in September, after he was convicted of taking $675,000 in bribes and kickbacks in office.
