Peter J. Barnes Jr. (September 12, 1928 – September 11, 2018) was an American Democratic Party politician, who had served as Chairman of the New Jersey State Parole Board from March 2007 to 2010. He previously served in New Jersey's General Assembly from 1996 to 2007, where he represented the 18th legislative district. In the Assembly, he served as the Majority Whip from 2002 to 2007. Biography and early career Barnes served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1948 as a Private First Class in the Military Police. Barnes received a B.A. from Providence College in Political Science. He has done Post-Baccalaureate work at Kean College in Public Administration. He is also a graduate of the F.B.I. Crime Resistance and Hostage Negotiating Schools and of the F.B.I. Management Training Program. At age 25, Barnes was hired as a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) where he served as an Assistant Senior Supervisory Agent and was responsible for investigating numerous violations of Federal Criminal Statutes. In his first year, 1954, Barnes was assigned to F.B.I. San Francisco, where he served until 1957. During his time there, he investigated cases involving bank robberies, Soviet espionage, and kidnappings. In 1956, he worked on the Stephanie Bryant kidnapping case, which at that time was the most prominent kidnapping case the State of California had ever seen. In 1958, Barnes was transferred to New Jersey, where he worked at F.B.I. Headquarters in Newark. He would spend the rest of his F.B.I. career in New Jersey, working at the F.B.I. New Brunswick and ending his career in 1980 at F.B.I. Piscataway. While in New Jersey, he was responsible for investigating cases involving white-collar crime, bank robberies, and internal security. In 1981, Barnes became the Director of Security for the New Jersey Devils Hockey Team where he served until 1995. Barnes began his public service in 1991 by serving as the Director of Public Safety in Edison, New Jersey. Only six months into his new position, Barnes led the Edison Police Department as it engaged in a two-day hostage standoff with John Arias, a 22-year-old Connecticut man. On June 1, 1991, The New York Times reported that Arias went to the home of his 20-year-old former girlfriend who had recently filed sexual assault charges against him, shot her four times, then locked himself in her Edison home where he killed the woman's