An American Success Story: Lieutenant Peter Kwon

Blue Magazine SPOTLIGHT
An American Success Story: Lieutenant Peter Kwon
By: Joel E. Gordon

May was Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and October will be Korean American Heritage Month. Regardless of the time of year, it is with great honor that we feature Lieutenant Peter Kwon of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. His family's journey to pursue the American dream is a story replicated in many facets by families immigrating to America from all over the globe.

As a 4-year-old, Lt. Kwon came from Korea in 1977 with his mother, father, and younger sister. They settled in Green Point, Brooklyn; his mother worked as a seamstress, and his father worked at a grocery store. They could not afford babysitting, so they left him and his sister in the apartment while they were at work.

Concurrent with the time the Kwon family arrived in America, the economy in South Korea was developing at best — nowhere near what it is today. Lt. Kwon's father didn't have a formal education and desired to do something better for his family. So the family packed their belongings and made the journey to America, where opportunity and a shot at the American dream were possible.

Over time, Lt. Kwon's parents saved money and opened their fruit and vegetable store in Utica, Brooklyn. His father would leave the house before 4 am to purchase products for his store from the market, and his mother would then open the store in the morning. The store did well, and they saved money to buy the commercial property where their store was located. Ultimately, success allowed Lt. Kwon's parents to stop working and become landlords. All the years of hard work allowed them to make sound real estate investments.

Lt. Kwon graduated from Benjamin Cardoza High School in Queens and attended NYU. After graduating, he attended John Jay College's Management of Public Administration Graduate Program. During his 2nd semester, he accepted a position with the Office of Public Management (OPM) as a background investigator. The position involved conducting extensive background checks for individuals who will be or are currently employed with the federal government and who required secret and above clearances. OPM was responsible for conducting updated background checks and initial checks for agencies such as the DEA, DOE, Air Force, Secret Service, etc.

During this time, Lt. Kwon applied to Suffolk County Police and the NYPD. While going through the processes, he noted that he did not see any other Asian American candidates, which made him second-guess his decision to enter law enforcement.

While still working for OPM, Lt. Kwon relocated to Fort Lee, NJ, where he submitted resumes to both Hudson and Bergen County Prosecutor's Offices, which led to interviewing for both offices. Eventually, BCPO offered him an agent position and HCPO offered him a detective position. These offers came in the same week, making a decision harder. He eventually accepted HCPO's proposal and has been employed with them since July 2001. He was only one of two Asian Americans in his academy class. 

Upon graduating from the DCJ academy, the young detective was assigned to the Narcotics Task Force in February of 2002, falling in love with the job immediately. Later, he was promoted to sergeant in July 2012 and took over the Municipal Task Force, investigating narcotics, violent crimes, and gangs. He became the first Asian American sergeant in HCPO's history. This supervisor position joined him with a minimal number of other Asian Americans who held the rank of supervisor in NJ in the field of law enforcement. He was then transferred to the sexual victims unit in 2018 until being promoted to lieutenant in December of 2021, becoming the first Asian American to hold that rank in charge of a field unit. Upon that promotion, he was transferred back to the Narcotics Task Force.

In 2011 Lt. Kwon joined a small organization called the Korea-American Law Enforcement Association (KALEA). This was a small social group composed of mainly law enforcement officers from federal, state, and local agencies of Korean descent. Later that year, KALEA became KABLE (Korean-American Brotherhood in Law Enforcement), with Lt. Kwon and two other individuals becoming the organization's founders. He served as their first president. KABLE's goals were to help other individuals enter the law enforcement field as they saw it essential that the new generation needed to serve their adopted community. They also strived to spread the message that Asian Americans are not only stereotypically private business owners but are also civil servants who want to help their respective communities.

"Being a cop or a fireman is a calling that matches your personality," Lt. Kwon said. "Being the oldest son of a Korean-American family, I was expected to be a doctor or lawyer, but that wasn't me. I went down the law enforcement path – working nights, working off-hours – it fit me."

Lt. Kwon's younger sister, Lucie Kwon, has similar law enforcement interests. She graduated from law school and accepted a position with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, where she moved up in rank and ultimately became the chief of DA for their white-collar crime unit.

"Law enforcement is a noble profession," Lt. Kwon said. "I would like to encourage more Asian Americans to consider it a career, and we are so much more diverse than people stereotypically think about us. I want to encourage the new kids coming into the profession to realize you represent your people, not just yourself. So, do the jobs well, do them with integrity, and do your best."

Joel E. Gordon, Managing Editor of BLUE Magazine, is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com