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Please find and view the most up to date news and information regarding the Town of New Windsor Police Department listed below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE #23-06 Issued on: May 15, 2023
This year, in honor of Police Week, New Windsor Police Chief Dan Valeri, along with Lieutenant Matt Monahan, Sergeant Hannah Lake, PBA President Frank Volpe and School Safety Officer Hardy Pierce, participated in this year’s Virtual National Police Week Memorial 5K – a race uniting thousands of law enforcement officers and their supporters to remember those officers killed in the line of duty. Chief Valeri ran in honor of Sergeant Vincent Oliva and Officer John Cortazzo of the Port Authority Police Department, both of whom died as a result of illnesses sustained during the rescue and recovery efforts following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Chief Valeri was a classmate of Cortazzo and a student of Oliva when he attended the Port Authority Police Explosive Detection Canine School in 2001. Lt. Monahan ran in honor of NYPD Officer Patrick Monroe who died as a result of cancer that he developed following his assignment to the search and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Officer Monroe was the uncle of New Windsor Officer Joseph Finnerty. Sgt. Lake dedicated her run to the memory of NYPD Detective Michael Hanson. Det. Hanson died of a neurological illness which was likely attributed to his response to the 9/11 World Trade Center Attack. His family is still awaiting the line of duty death designation. Officer Pierce, who is assigned as the School Safety Officer at the Little Britain Elementary School, ran with school employees Todd Grodin, Marisa Sitko, Lindsey Krause and Jeanna Santagato, who chose to join his team for the event. Together they ran in honor of Officer Breann Leath. Officer Leath was an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer who was shot and killed on April 9, 2020 while responding to a domestic disturbance. In addition to honoring the fallen officers, Chief Valeri created the team to participate in this year’s event to promote wellness and unity within the department. He also ran the 3.1 miles in his department issued bulletproof vest as a reminder to officers that there is no good reason not to wear their body armor. The National Police Week 5K is presented by The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring America’s fallen law enforcement heroes. As the largest law enforcement memorial in the United States, ODMP preserves the memories of 26,000+ fallen officers in its online memorial and reflection pages.
[PHOTO CAPTIONS] NWPD team members (left to right) Lt. Monahan, Chief Valeri, Sgt. Lake and PBA President Volpe. Little Britain School team members (left to right) Todd Grodin, Marisa Sitko, Lindsey Krause, Jeanna Santagato and School Safety Officer Hardy Pierce.
On January 24, 2020, New Windsor Police Officers Hardy Pierce and Jeremy Arcaro were at Little Britain Elementary School to do an Anti-bullying presentation for the 2nd – 5th grade students.
The Officer’s presentation went great and there was quite a bit of positive feedback from children on the topic. Officer Pierce and Officer Arcaro are also members of the department’s very active Community Policing Unit.
The New Windsor Police Department recently achieved agency re-accreditation through the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. The re-accreditation certification is good through June of 2026. The Police Department has been continuously accredited since 1996. In the first photo, supervisors of the department pose with the newly received NYS Accreditation Certificate. A second photo shows Lt. Daniel J. Valeri, our accreditation manager, receiving the John Kimball O’Neil Certificate of Achievement in recognition of his leadership and dedication to the accreditation program.
What does maintaining NYS Law Enforcement Accreditation mean and why is it important?
The NYS Law Enforcement Accreditation Program provides formal recognition that an agency meets or exceeds general expectations of quality in the field. The program has four principal goals:
In essence, accreditation acknowledges the implementation of policies that are conceptually sound and operationally effective. The cornerstone of the Accreditation Program lies in established standards that contain a clear statement of professional requirements. Agencies participating in the program conduct a thorough analysis of their organization to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet established standards. When an agency adopts policies and procedures that meet the standards, a team of independent professionals conducts an on-site assessment to verify that all applicable standards have been successfully implemented. This process culminates with a decision by the NYS Law Enforcement Accreditation Council that the agency is worthy of accreditation.
The New Windsor Police Department recently established a Bicycle Patrol unit. This unit consists of 6 Police Officers that were specially chosen and trained for this assignment. They have all attended graduated from the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Law Enforcement Bicycle Patrol Course. This 5-day course was designed as an entry level training for law enforcement personnel utilizing specialized mountain bikes for patrol activities. The course combines classroom training (such as vehicle & traffic law and bicycle safety, performance and maintenance) with practical application exercises (such as mock scenarios, obstacle negotiation, dismounts, take downs, suspect contact and tactical response with firearms). Students learned cycling techniques involving obstacles such as stairs, curbs, parking lots and off-road trails. Members of the New Windsor Police Bicycle Patrol Unit are: Officer Arcaro, Officer Gagliardo, Officer Fayo, Officer Lake, Officer Lubarsky, and Officer Vega.
A big thank you to Meaghan Campbell who honored the New Windsor Police Department by sponsoring an American Flag for us at the Kiwanis Club of Washingtonville’s Flags for Heroes event. We may be Meaghan’s heroes but she is ours. Her positivity and never give up attitude inspire us every day. Thank you Meaghan!
September 25th was National Car Seat Check Saturday so NWPD decided to hold a car seat inspection event at Police Headquarters with the assistance of Orange County Traffic Safety Programs. At the event, car seat technicians checked a total of 19 child seats to ensure they were installed properly and that the seats met safety standards. A special thank you goes out to Traffic Safety Educators Kecia Healy and Doug Krauss for all the help! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the event and made it a success!
The New Windsor Police Department recently became the first and only police agency in Orange County to participate in New York’s Mobile Access Program (MAP) for use on mental health related calls. Funded through the New York State Senate and in cooperation with the New York State Office of Mental Health, this program equips select NY Police Departments and local Mental Health clinicians with iPads to utilize Zoom type teleconference calls for mental healthcare purposes. The program provides another option for Police Officers to have when they require some assistance in evaluating a situation when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. The 3 iPads we received use a HIPAA compliant teleconferencing software for mental health consultations. The primary goal of the MAP program is to increase police access to timely mental health consultations and evaluations which should result in less waiting for a mental health professional to respond to the scene, less transports by the police to the hospital and for better planning for follow-up care of the individual involved. The New Windsor Police Department responded to 298 mental health crisis calls in 2021. Additionally, every sworn-member of the New Windsor Police Department has received special training in how to best manage a situation when an individual is in mental health crisis. Shown in the photo are: Don Kamin, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Police, Mental Health & Community Collaboration, Deb Salamone, Project Coordinator for MAP and Sgt. Christopher Sylvester.