New police chief wants to hear from community, plans new outreach efforts

Riverhead’s new police chief wants to hear from the community.  

In addition to three “meet the new chief” public outreach sessions, Chief Ed Frost is looking to connect with segments of the broader community that have historically been underrepresented in town meetings and on the town police force itself. 

Riverhead’s “Police Reform and Reinvention Collaboration Plan,” prepared in response to a 2020 executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June 2020 and adopted by the Town Board in March 2021, calls for the police department to improve community relations.  

The plan also calls for the police department to become more diversified to better reflect community demographics.

The plan anticipated the police department developing mentoring programs with community organizations in order to help potential police officer candidates through coaching and guidance during the hiring process. 

The stated goal is to increase the number of Black and LatinX residents taking the police officer exam administered by the Suffolk County Department of Civil Service. Residents taking the test and scoring high enough to earn a place on the Civil Service list to be “reachable” by the town police department is the key to getting hired. 

Officials have lamented that not enough members of the Black and LatinX communities take the Civil Service exam, and that prevents the police department from increasing the diversity of its ranks — which remain overwhelmingly white. 

The target timeline for completing the steps called for by the plan, such as developing mentoring programs specifically for this purpose was identified in the plan as “medium,” defined as three to four years from the date of plan adoption.  That means the mentoring programs envisioned should already be underway or close to being launched.

They are not yet in the works, Frost said. 

His time in the new position has been a whirlwind, the chief said. Though he is a veteran member of the department and has been among the top brass for several years, his promotion to chief came quickly and unexpectedly,  with very little transition time after former Chief David Hegermiller, who served as chief for 22 years, retired with just two weeks’ notice. Frost, one of three lieutenants in the department, was named the next chief within a matter of days. 

“Obviously, I would love to do that. I’m not, not against it at all,” Frost said of the diversification effort. “It’s something we have to do more outreach for.” 

The chief said he’s already begun outreach for that purpose having met with Riverhead Community Awareness Program last week, and reached out to Larry Street of the NAACP Eastern Long Island Branch. He is next going to reach out to First Baptist Church and the Hispanic community. 

“These are things that I’m looking to do, after I get over this initial entry, but it’s definitely something I’m for,” Frost said. He said town officials fully support the effort.

Another item in the police reform plan was acquiring and deploying body-worn cameras in the department. 

With a state grant, Riverhead is able to purchase the equipment. The town will be buying 110 cameras and supporting equipment, Frost said. The cameras will be delivered in 30 to 45 days from the date of order, he said. Then comes the implementation of the system, including training by the vendor. 

“I’m moving forward with it. I’ve already had three meetings with the vendor,” he said. The order is just about ready to be finalized. He is aiming to have it placed by the end of this month, he said.

“I’m 100% for them,” Frost said. “I think it’s a good tool for us as well. It’s time.”

To increase transparency and accountability by the police department, the plan calls for posting more information on the town website, including descriptions for each officer rank and use of force data. The plan noted that the department was in the process of acquiring a rules and procedure software called Lexipol. 

The software was purchased and deployed, the chief said. “Eventually, we’ll put those online. Certain things would have to be redacted, but that’s a pretty substantial document,” Frost said. 

The department, meanwhile, will continue to hire new officers, with five more new recruits anticipated to be hired before the end of the year, Frost said. 

Among the changes he’s making in the assignment and utilization of officers, the chief said, is the establishment of a crime control unit right after Labor Day. The unit will, among other things, address petit larcenies, both commercial — thefts from stores— and residential — such as thefts from items in parked cars, for example.

“A lot of those cases, with a little bit of investigation, those people can be brought into the justice system,” Frost said.

He said he strongly believes in cross-training personnel and having repetition among staff. “I don’t like having one person with the knowledge,” he said. Other people need to be trained to be able to step in and take over as needed, he said. “To be able to move people on to different positions is important to me,” he said. 

The crime control unit will itself be a good training ground for future detectives, which will be helpful in the event of retirements in the detective division, Frost said. Officers assigned to the crime control unit will be both uniformed and plain clothes. They’re going to be taking statements and they will gain investigative training and experience under a sergeant with a lot of investigative background, he said, because he was a detective for four years.

Frost is still very much working to get acclimated in his new position and he says he’s interested in hearing from residents about what matters most to them and how the police department can best serve their needs. 

“My goal is to keep this community safe and having good communication with the community is essential to achieving it,” Frost said.

The final “meet the chief” session of three introductory sessions scheduled by Supervisor Tim Hubbard this month will take place Saturday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. at Riley Avenue Elementary School in Calverton.

Frost, 54, joined the Riverhead Police Department right out of the police academy in June 1994. He was an investigator in the detective squad from July 2000 to October 2003, when he was promoted to sergeant. While a sergeant he served in various units, including in the department’s Community Oriented Policing Enforcement (COPE) unit.

Frost was appointed detective sergeant in 2015 and promoted again to lieutenant in February 2021. He has served on the board of the police brass’ union, the Riverhead Superior Officers Association, including most recently as president. He is in charge of the Juvenile Aid Bureau and runs the Riverhead Police Athletic League.

Frost grew up in Queens. He said his family had a summer house in Wading River while he was growing up. He became a permanent resident of the town in 1988. Growing up he always wanted to be a police officer to help people, he said. Frost was previously a member of the Wading River Fire Department and served on the Wading River Fire District board of commissioners in 2010 and 2011.