With Timothy Faughnan set to take up the newly formed position of associate vice president for emergency services for Binghamton University, a new chief of police is poised to be named in his stead.
According to Faughnan, who is a 35-year veteran of the department, the search for a new chief is in its final stages.
The three candidates for the position — Sgt. Sammy Davis, Lt. John Pelletier and Deputy Chief of Police Patrick Reilly — are all long-time members of the University community.
Davis, ‘01, is a BU alumnus who majored in human development before beginning his career in law enforcement in 2003 as an officer with the University Police Department (UPD). In 2005, he moved to the Broome County Sheriff’s Office, where he served as a deputy. In 2012, he was promoted as a detective and was named sergeant in 2015.
For the last three years, he has been the director of training for the Broome County Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Academy and was honored in 2017 as a “hometown hero” by the Broome County Sheriff’s Office for his work in community policing.
Pelletier has been with the UPD for just over a decade. After graduating from Upper Iowa University in 2000 with a degree in human services, he began a career with the U.S. Army, receiving awards and commendation for his service.
Since joining UPD in 2007, Pelletier has served as a field training officer and has instructed officers at the Broome County Law Enforcement Academy. Since his appointment in 2015 to lieutenant, he has supervised the department’s community response team, which focuses on outreach to students, parents, faculty and campus visitors.
The final candidate is Reilly, who began his career as a University police officer in 1994. He held a leadership role as a field training officer, and in 2011, he became an investigator, where he oversaw investigations and acted as a liaison between his department and federal law enforcement agencies. In 2018, he was promoted to his current role as deputy chief.
At an open session for Reilly on Thursday in the University Union, he spoke of the importance of understanding how University incidents are felt in the wider community.
“I think that it’s important that when something happens, you know how it will affect the outside community,” Reilly said. “It’s like throwing a rock into a pond. There is a ripple effect.”
Reilly also stressed the importance of engagement between law enforcement and students, which he said leads to more effective policing.
“It’s about getting [that bond] and seeing who your community is,” Reilly said. “When you’re out doing something on the law enforcement side, [hopefully] people from that community are willing to give you information without being asked and know that you, as an officer, are just doing your job.”
The ability for the student community to be in the loop and involved with law enforcement was a concern held by several of those in attendance, including Dan Chambers, former police chief of SUNY Oneonta and a resident of Johnson City. Chambers said he believed this was one of the biggest challenges facing the incoming police chief.
“Everything changes so fast with social media,” Chambers said. “I know the chief that took over for me hasn’t instituted a lot [of new things] in terms of programming, but has documented it on a Facebook page so you see all the things they’re already doing.”