Scarsdale Police Chief Retires After 37 Years

Approximately 37 years ago, Chief John Brogan started his career with the Scarsdale Police Department. At the end of January 2015, Brogan will retire from his position as chief and will begin exploring a new chapter in his life. His successor will be Andrew Matturro, who is currently serving as captain of the Scarsdale Police Department.

It was February 15, 1978, when Brogan started his career with Scarsdale police. Jimmy Carter was president of the United States; a first class stamp was worth 13 cents, and a gallon of milk cost $1.75. John Travolta was a cultural icon, and his disco moves lit up the movie screen in “Saturday Night Fever.”

As a young graduate of the police academy in 1973, Brogan dreamed of joining the New York City Police Department. However, it was a difficult time as the lingering oil crisis strained the U.S. economy and tightened municipal budgets. So, there weren’t many jobs available. Brogan applied for police work across the United States and eventually accepted a seasonal position with the New York State Park police. He also worked construction jobs on the side. After about a year, he was hired for a fulltime position with the City of Newburgh Police Department, where patrol officers kept busy with the city’s high crime rate. The job was exciting, but it was unstable due to dependence on federal funds. Brogan saw several colleagues experience layoffs; so he decided to take the civil service exam for eligibility in Westchester police departments and was quickly offered positions in both Pelham and Scarsdale. Drawn in by the beauty of the village and the community’s friendly environment, Brogan accepted the job in Scarsdale – and the rest is history.

“I could see that police work here would be very different than the typical cops and robbers stuff that I did in Newburgh. Here, the community liked and appreciated their police officers, and the police department worked diligently to be there for the community and to provide a high level of service,” Brogan said in an interview last week. “In some places, policing means chasing criminals, dealing with drug trade, responding to domestic disputes and addressing quality of life violations such as alcohol and disorderly conduct in the streets … but in Scarsdale, we don’t see much of these typical things. Here, police need to be engaged with the community and have a strong visible presence. People need to feel protected and served, with a definite sense of safety and security. It’s a different kind of service.”

Coming from an Irish Catholic family full of men who were proud New York City police officers and firefighters, Brogan grew up with a deep respect for the dedication and professionalism required by a job in public service. However, Brogan also genuinely felt the commitment to police work with an innate sensibility. “It was never just a job for me. I always tried to bring something proactive to it – to be out there really working to make things better, to engage people in meaningful ways and to make tangible contributions,” he said.

After serving the village as a Scarsdale patrol officer for almost ten years, Brogan was promoted to SPD patrol sergeant in 1987. Five years later, in December 1992, he became patrol lieutenant. Ten years after that, in May 2002, Brogan was promoted to chief of the Scarsdale Police Department. He replaced the retiring chief, Don Ferraro, who was an incredible mentor, according to Brogan.

Reflecting on various positions over the years, Brogan identified a special affinity with the patrol division: “Patrol is important because patrol is responsible for the actual delivery of service. It might not be the most glorified position, but patrol is the most visible, active and essential component of any department. Patrol responds to crimes in progress and incidents in which people are at their most vulnerable. It involves a lot of quick thinking on your feet and human compassion. It can be hours of boredom followed by moments of terror. Patrol is the backbone of any department.”

One of Brogan’s most memorable incidents occurred as a young patrol officer in Scarsdale. Brogan had been assigned to a plainclothes squad targeting a suspect accused of approximately 80 village burglaries committed during the late evening and early morning hours. He recalled: “We were put on steady shifts from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. to try to catch the guy. One night I was dispatched to an alarm and was less than 30 seconds away. As I arrived, I saw an open house door and ran in. The homeowner shouted he had chased the burglar from the house, and the burglar fled over the backyard fence. It was a cold January night, with a full moon and traces of snow on the ground. I began to climb fences and trek through backyards, guided by an occasional footprint in the snow.”

Eventually, Brogan caught up with the perpetrator, who was lying in a backyard next to his jacket. The young man was not attempting to hide; nor was anything nearby that could have caused him to trip and fall. “I ordered him to remove his hands from under his body, and he responded with a string of profanities,” Brogan said. “I called for backup but wasn’t sure where I was because I had been going through backyards. Finally, a woman opened her house window. She asked what was going on and told me the address. When backup arrived, I began to handcuff the man, and he started moaning. I repeatedly asked what was wrong; but he only responded with profanities. It was then that I noticed a small hole in the back of his T-shirt. I lifted his shirt and saw a bullet wound just below his shoulder blade.”

Brogan then broadcasted that the suspect was suffering from gunshot wounds, and he requested an ambulance.  When the department’s commanding sergeant responded to the scene, he asked Brogan about the gunshot wound, assuming Brogan had shot the suspect. Brogan convinced the sergeant he had not fired his gun, and they both returned to the scene of the burglary for further investigation. Eventually the homeowner admitted to shooting the burglar as he fled the house. The suspect, who never told Brogan he had been shot, was barely alive when he arrived at the hospital; but when Brogan was assigned to guarding the suspect at the hospital later that week, “he stopped cursing and thanked me for finding him and saving his life,” Brogan said. 

Other memorable career events included the challenging resolution of a home invasion case involving the same-day arrests of eight suspects, from New Rochelle and the Bronx, who worked together to pull off the crime – as well as a case in which Brogan managed to reunite a 13-year-old boy in Newburgh with his stolen bicycle. “The kid was brokenhearted since his family was of modest means, and the boy had been working odd jobs for some time to save up and purchase the bike,” Brogan said. “About a week after the bike was stolen, I noticed a bike with an evidence tag in the booking room at police headquarters and immediately recognized it as the bike in question. I called the kid’s home and told him to come and pick it up. Although it didn’t take much effort on my part, and no great police work was involved, I still vividly remember how happy and full of gratitude the boy was when his bike was returned to him. For this reason, it stands out as one of the more gratifying experiences I’ve had in my career.” 

During his tenure as chief, Brogan has actively cultivated a philosophy of “policing as a people business,” and he has worked toward initiatives that have fostered a greater sense of organizational identity within the department.

The renovation and expansion of the Public Safety Headquarters building was actualized while Brogan was chief. From planning through construction, the total project took more than seven years and required the creation of a redundant communications and booking center that mimicked the previous facilities and ensured no interruption of service to the community during the department’s relocation to temporary headquarters. Now, the resulting permanent structure represents a state-of-the-art facility equipped for best practice in communications, training, investigation, administration and practical needs – for today and for the future.

Other notable achievements include the following. Brogan instituted a Motorcycle Unit, and he expanded and professionalized the department’s Honor Guard. Both are primarily used for ceremonial functions. Brogan started an orientation program for new hires and invited family members to participate, which has worked to build a strong sense of community and camaraderie. Diversity has increased within the department during Brogan’s 12 years as chief, thus allowing the department to better serve Scarsdale residents and the community at large. Under Brogan’s guidance, all members of the department’s command staff are now required to attend the FBI National Academy, a 10-week residential program for law enforcement executives in Quantico, Virginia. During Brogan’s tenure, the department has also actively pursued a set of policies and procedures that fulfill the requirements of several hundred best practice standards covering every aspect of law enforcement for the purpose of national accreditation. As a result, the department has successfully maintained national accreditation since 1995. In 2009, the department was further sited as one of five flagship agencies in the nation; and this coming March, it is expected to achieve gold standard accreditation.  

“Everyone comes here wanting to be a police officer. But we want our people to be Scarsdale police officers,” Brogan said. “Thus, all of these efforts add to our professionalism and to the sense of pride and identity that our members have in this organization. This pride manifests itself not only in the heroic work our officers perform when necessary but also in the good community-based work done on a daily basis. The chief sets the tone, but the real police work is done by the patrol officers on the street, the first line supervisors, the detectives and the support personnel like the dispatchers, the animal control officers, police aides, parking enforcement and records room personnel. … Going the extra mile here is not the exception; it’s the rule.”

Following his retirement at the end of January, Brogan is looking forward to keeping busy in the private sector. He has taught criminal justice at Dutchess Community College for four years and is considering an opportunity to work as an adjunct professor at another college in New York. He also plans to expand his involvement with the Rotary Club, either in Scarsdale, where he has been an active member for many years, or in his own community. “I want to stay in a role where I can make a difference in the lives of people, and volunteer work brings a sense of great reward and purpose,” Brogan said.

“I will miss the structure and the excitement of the job, and I will miss the personnel,” the Chief reflected. “I have been blessed to have worked with an incredible group of people, including members of this department, a supportive village administration, talented and dedicated elected officials and others who were always willing and eager to lend a hand. Together, we inherited a great organization from former Chief Don Ferraro, and together we worked to make the Scarsdale Police Department at least a little better than how we found it. Mostly, I will miss being part of the energy of this team.”

And certainly, the team – and the entire community– will miss their Chief.