Larchmont Names New Police Chief

LARCHMONT, NY — Larchmont has recruited an official well-known in Hudson Valley law enforcement circles as its new chief of police.

The Larchmont Board of Trustees approved a resolution to offer Chris McNerney the position of Police Chief of the Larchmont Police Department. He has reportedly accepted the job. McNerney is currently the Chief of Police in Greenburgh.

McNerney has served as Police Chief for the Greenburgh Police Department since 2013, with the exception of one year when he left to be the Chief Investigator for the Westchester District Attorney’s office in 2019. He also holds a law degree and is a licensed attorney in New York and Connecticut.

McNerney has served as instructor at the Westchester County Police Academy. He also taught as an adjunct professor of criminology at Mercy College and he was also president of the Westchester County Chiefs of Police and New York State Association of Chiefs of Police.

The decision to select a Chief beyond the ranks of the Larchmont Police Department was not one taken lightly by the Village Board, officials said announcing the hiring.

"Larchmont is fortunate to have some of the most dedicated, professional and well-trained police officers in the County," board members said in the joint statement. "The men and women of the Larchmont Police Department time and again go above and beyond the call of duty in their service to Larchmont residents, and the community is better because of their work."

Although elected officials said they had hoped to promote from within, a slew of recent departures from the department made naming a candidate from outside the department, but with strong ties in Westchester County law enforcement, more sensible.

The small Larchmont Police Department has lost 6 officers, due to retirements and transfer, since August of last year. Between June and December of this year, the department will also have lost its chief, captain and one of two lieutenants to retirement, effectively losing a combined 90 years of law enforcement experience and almost all of its top brass.

Earlier this year, the village promoted a new lieutenant and a new sergeant from within its ranks and hired five police officers as transfers from other law enforcement agencies.

McNerney will join the department before the end of the year. He will be sworn in at a December 6 ceremony.