POUGHKEEPSIE – City of Poughkeepsie Police Chief Tom Pape, a 41-year department veteran, is retiring on Friday, May 24.
His career of service to the city began in 1983 when he was hired as a patrol officer. During those 41 years, Pape, who attended Dutchess Community College and SUNY College of Technology at Utica, moved from the patrol division to the detective bureau and continued his rise through the ranks before being named chief of the department by then-Mayor Rob Rolison, a retired Town of Poughkeepsie detective.
While announcing Pape’s retirement on Tuesday, Mayor Yvonne Flowers also named Police Captain Rich Wilson as the Interim Police Chief. Wilson has been serving the department in various capacities for more than 30 years.
Pape’s retirement is the second of the command staff to retire this month, following 40-year member of the department Captain Steven Minard.
“I want to thank Chief Pape for his unyielding service and steady handling of the Police Department for these many years. Chief Pape epitomizes the best in police professionalism, and he has served this city with great distinction,” said Mayor Flowers. “I also have the utmost confidence Rich Wilson will do excellent work as our interim police chief, considering his vast knowledge of the city and the operations of the police department.”
Under Pape’s leadership, the department has made significant investments in body cameras to provide more transparency about how officers operate in the field — and about the situations to which they respond. The department also enhanced its complaint process by improving accessibility and by developing a new easy-to-use online reporting tool. Forms can be used to file civilian complaints and for commendations for the actions of officers.
The department has completed Procedural Justice training, which focuses on the way police interact with the public, and it established the Procedural Justice Committee which includes police officers, other city officials and community members.
Procedural Justice emphasizes that treating people with dignity and respect and giving citizens a voice during encounters promotes community trust. City police also have undertaken implicit bias training, which addresses the automatic association people tend to make between groups of people and stereotypes about those groups.
With the assistance of the command staff, Pape has developed new policies and is currently taking the necessary steps to have the department recognized as accredited through the State of New York.
“Every day has built memories,” Pape told Mid-Hudson News. “I never once woke up and said I don’t want to go there (work) – I love this place, always have, always will.” As to why he enjoyed his time in the department, he credited his coworkers. “The people, the officers that work here, the civilian staff who work here make it easy for me to do my job, which is why I never had a bad day.”
State Senator Rob Rolison, who appointed Pape as police chief when Rolison was mayor said, “I have had the privilege of being a friend and colleague of Chief Tom Pape for 40 years. His career as a police officer is something that all should strive for – caring about his fellow officers and the community in which he served.”
