Veteran Officer To Leave Greenwich For WCSU Chief Of Police Job

GREENWICH, CT — After 26 years of service to the Greenwich Police Department, Deputy Chief Robert Berry will soon leave town for Western Connecticut State University where he will be the new chief of police.

Interim WCSU President Dr. Paul Beran recently announced the hiring in an email to the school community, and said he looks forward to working with Berry who will start his new job on April 17.

Berry, who joined the GPD in 1997, told Patch it's been a "privilege to serve" the Greenwich community. He said he was proud to be associated with the officers and professional staff at the GPD.

"I will miss many of the great relationships and partnerships formed over my time here. I have learned so much, beginning as a patrol officer, progressing to supervisor and then finally to becoming a member of the command staff of the Department," Berry said in an email. "However, the opportunity to join the WCSU community was too great to pass up on. I have always considered myself a lifelong learner and the chance to become a part of a university is exciting. Greenwich PD is well positioned to continue along its path of success and I hope to bring many of those achievements to WestConn."

Berry has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Fordham University and two master's degrees — one in national security/homeland security studies from the American Military University, and another in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

He also has a lengthy military career. Berry retired as a colonel from the Army Reserves in 2018. One of his last active-duty deployments was as director of emergency services for the U.S. Army in Kuwait.

"During the interview process, Chief Berry listed as one of his proudest accomplishments his work as co-founder of Greenwich CARE, which brought together multiple service providers to help people with behavioral health and/or substance use disorders," Beran said in his email. "In his application letter Chief Berry said, 'My belief is that police officers should serve as guardians of every life, protect the entire community, defend the rights of every person and enforce the law equitably, fairly and transparently.' I thank the members of the search committee and all those who took part in the public forums. Chief Berry will begin on April 17. I look forward to working with him."

According to the job posting, the WCSU Police Department is staffed with a police lieutenant, three sergeants, seven police officers and four non-sworn positions.