Today marks the end of an era in the Riverhead Town Police Department, with the retirement of Chief David Hegermiller and the swearing in of his successor, Riverhead Police Lieutenant Edward Frost.
Tall, lanky and soft spoken, Hegermiller, 65, has served as chief of the department for 22 years and as a member of the force for more than 42 years.
A resident of Wading River, where he’s lived since he was a late teenager, he joined the department on Nov. 16, 1981 and rose through the ranks to the top spot, succeeding Chief Joseph Grattan on March 23, 2002.
Seated at his desk last week in an office crowded with stacks of reports, files, manuals, along with photos of family members, fellow officers and assorted memorabilia collected over the decades, Hegermiller reflected on his years of service to the department, police work and the community served by the agency.
Hegermiller, a deeply religious Roman Catholic who attends daily mass at St. Isidore’s Church before arriving at PD headquarters, said the most rewarding part of police work is helping people.
“I know it sounds kind of canned, but it’s true,” he said. It’s about “fixing the problem” for people, he said — whatever the problem is, and whoever needs the help.
It’s been a very fulfilling career, he said. And he leaves it with no regrets.
“God’s been very good to me,” Hegermiller said.
But becoming a cop was not his youthful ambition. Mathematics was his love, he said, and he intended to be a math teacher. Hegermiller majored in applied math and statistics, and got his certification to teach math in grades 7 to 12.
But while serving as a volunteer firefighter and advanced emergency medical technician in the Wading River Fire Department, life took a different turn.
“All the guys in the fire department were taking the Suffolk County Police test and said, ‘you gotta take the test.’ So I did,” Hegermiller said. “The rest is history.”
Looking back, he knows it was the right choice. He’s enjoyed his role, albeit challenging, of growing the town police department to meet the needs of a growing community, of deploying new technology, and working to figure out how to make things better.
The town has grown a lot over his years as a cop. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the Town of Riverhead has increased by more than 77% between 1980 and 2020, from 20,243 to 35,902.
The demographics in Riverhead have changed a lot, too, with the growth of the Latino population, as well as an increasing number of second-home owners.
Large scale “destination retail” development along Route 58, has presented a special set of challenges for the department during the chief’s tenure, from traffic control to answering an ever-increasing volume of calls for assistance.
The overall growth has required increased manpower. When he joined the department as a patrol officer in 1981, there were 57 officers, Hegermiller said. “We are now budgeted for 100, and we have 96. We’re talking about hiring the next group.”
His tenure saw the expansion of the number of female officers in the department, and the appointment of its first female sergeant and first female lieutenant in the department’s history.
He also led the department to become a New York State Accredited Law Enforcement Agency in 2011. The accreditation is formal recognition that an agency meets or exceeds the state’s standards of quality and professionalism.
The department’s community outreach programs have grown under Hegermiller’s leadership, including a very active juvenile aid bureau, which runs the department’s Police Athletic League programs, an annual “Coffee with a Cop” day, the establishment of the Community Oriented Policing Enforcement, or COPE, unit, whose emphasis is improving the quality of life of residents and visitors through an active presence and involvement in the community.
Working with the Riverhead Community Awareness Program has been one of the most rewarding things he’s done, he said. “It’s been a great part of my career working with them. We really got involved with CAP and, I think, for the benefit of everybody.” Hegermiller serves on the board of directors of the widely acclaimed program, which works in Riverhead schools to prevent substance use and abuse.
He’s also been a member of the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force since it was resurrected during the administration of Supervisor Sean Walter.
Over the years, the department has put a lot of resources into safety downtown, which the town has struggled to revitalize after retail shops, including the anchor department stores, closed down.
“Main Street still had a lot of different stores that you could shop at — Rose Jewelers, all the shoe stores, Rimlands was there,” Hegermiller recalled. “I think the theater was even still open when I started,” he said, referring to the long-shuttered Suffolk, which was restored and opened as a performing arts venue in 2013.
Hegermiller sees things finally turning around. The opening of the aquarium on East Main Street was the beginning, he said.
Revitalization and population growth downtown bring challenges of their own, and require different tactics and an increased presence. But Hegermiller is confident the department is up for the challenge, both in terms of its size and the professionalism of the officers, dispatchers and support staff.
His successor is a veteran Riverhead cop who knows the department, knows the town and will do well, Hegermiller said. “He’s very smart.”
The Town Board is set to formally accept Hegermiller’s retirement and appoint Frost as chief this afternoon at 4 p.m.
As for Hegermiller, he’s looking forward to having more time to spend with his family. He and his wife of 39 years, Cheryl, have five grown children and two young grandchildren — so far.
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