'A Dream Come True' -- Greenwich Hires 3 New Police Recruits

The ranks of the Greenwich Police Department grew by three on Monday with the swearing in of two military veterans and a Greenwich native for whom becoming an officer in town has been a lifelong dream.

Since he attended Julian Curtiss School in Greenwich, Sebastian Arenas has wanted to become a Greenwich officer. “In third grade they had us draw pictures for our yearbook,” Arenas recalled following the Greenwich Town Hall ceremony presided over by Police Chief James Heavey and First Selectman Peter Tesei who also is the town’s police commissioner.

For that third-grade yearbook, Arenas drew a stick man with a gun. “I said then that I wanted to be a police officer,” Arenas said. So the Greenwich High School graduate pursued his dream, graduating from the University of New Haven with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, completed an internship with the Redding Police Department, became a member of the Greenwich Community Emergency Response Team and graduated from the Greenwich Police Citizen’s Police Academy in 2014.

“It’s a dream come true...this is everything I’ve worked for and will keep working hard for,” Arenas said as his family and girlfriend and her mother looked on. “I’m so proud of you,” said his mother Martha Canas as she hugged him.

The other two recruits who will bring the department’s staffing to 151 officers are Justin R. Quagliani, who grew up in Stamford, and Max T. Rinaldi, who grew up in Carmel, NY.

Quagliani, a graduate of Stamford High School and the University of Phoenix, served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 10 years as a military police sergeant including a tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also was honored for bravery for assisting Stamford Police in apprehending a bank robbery suspect in March 2007 which garnered him the Police Commissioners Association of Connecticut Meritorious Service Award.

Rinaldi is Carmel, NY High School graduate and earned an associate’s degree from Empire State College. Before his appointment to Greenwich PD, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a marine science technician for 5 ½ years, achieving the rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class. He was assigned to cutters that conducted anti-migration and narcotics patrols in the Caribbean, security patrols for Iraqi oil platforms and for hazardous materials and pollution spills on Long Island Sound.

Rinaldi comes from a family with a rich law enforcement history. His father and an uncle serve the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police, his grandfather and an uncle were New York Police officers, and two uncles work in the Bronx District Attorney’s office and the New York Division of Parole.

All three recruits will begin a six-month police academy training program, followed by 12 weeks of field training in Greenwich.

After presenting each officer with their gleaming new badges, Heavey said, “We want to make sure you are trained well and stay safe.”

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• Another SUV Reported Stolen in Greenwich

Photos: #1: First Selectman Peter Tesei swears in Sebastian Arenas; #2: Justin Quagliani; #3: Max Rinaldi. Credit: Barbara Heins.