James Calandra

Port of New York Authority Police Department — Jersey City, NJ

Accident

End of Watch November 19, 1956

Age 50

Tour of Duty 28 yrs

Badge 482

The Vigil Panel 92 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 4

Incident

Officer James Calandra was killed when his motorcycle was struck by a truck that was changing lanes in the New Jersey-bound tube of the Holland Tunnel. Another Officer had instructed the truck driver to change lanes. The truck driver, not seeing Officer Calandra's motorcycle, changed lanes and struck Patrolman Calandra, killing him. Patrolman Calandra had been in law enforcement for 28 years. He was one of the first forty men hired by the Port of New York Authority Police on May 26th, 1928, they were called Bridgemen at the time. He transferred to the New York State Police in 1931. He later resigned from the New York State Police and was re-appointed by the Port Authority in 1937.

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Permanent identifier: BO-US-NY-476E0EFD
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

28 years. You could have gone home.
Police Officer Calandra gave the Port of New York Authority Police Department 28 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Jersey City community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Calandra.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Port of New York Authority Police Department

Location Jersey City, NJ

Platform Identity pnyapd.hudson.nj.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 19, 1956

Tour of Duty 28 yrs

Age 50

Badge Number 482

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Police Officer James Calandra is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In NJ, 258 of 646 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.9% of this state's fallen. That is 8.9 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At Port of New York Authority Police Department, 4 of 5 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 80% of this agency's fallen.

Port of New York Authority Police Department

of 5 officers

80% Accident

NJ — Statewide

258

of 646 officers

39.9% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident