Clarkstown Auxiliary Celebrates 40th Anniversary

The Clarkstown Police Auxiliary Department held its annual awards dinner Friday night and also celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Department Captain Darryl Draper said 2012 was a banner year for the auxiliary department, as its members served a record 7,500 hours of voluneer time for the town.

“The CPD Auxiliary Department has become one of the most sought after groups of volunteers here in Rockland County,” he said. “This year Orangetown requested basically more than two-thirds of our department to assist them with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and this allowed the regular officers to focus on law enforcement issues.”

Past and present members of the auxiliary attended the event, along with many elected officials, who showered the auxiliary's members with praise for their service. Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack thanked the group for donating 40 years of service to the town. He also praised the working relationship between the Clarkstown Police Department and Clarkstown Police Auxiliary Department.

“On behalf of the town board, we get to go to a lot of events, from parades to fairs to so many things, and it just is a warm, comforting feeling when we see Clarkstown Police there standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the auxiliary police,” he said. “And more importantly, it’s a warm, comforting feeling to our residents when you’re there at all the special events, and there’s a lot of them in Clarkstown.”

Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan agreed with Gromack’s assessment, and said the auxiliary department is part of the Clarkstown Police family.

“You do selflessly dedicate hours of your own time in the service of your community and what an incredible amount of service that has added up to: over 125,000 hours just for this team alone,” he said. “That’s just incredible, and thank you for that.”

Sullivan added that the police department and auxiliary department having such a good relationship isn’t necessarily a common occurrence elsewhere.

“When you look around the country and the state, you’ll find that that’s not always the case,” he said. “A lot of times the auxiliary units are a sense of conflict in most police departments. The reason why we don’t have that is because every member of this auxiliary unit, in a sense, is a cause of inspiration to every one of us for everything you give to us.”

The event at La Terrazza in New City, was emcee’d by auxiliary department members Lenore Congemi and Ray Francis, who entertained the crowd with comedic interludes between speakers, including a Top 10 reasons for joining the auxiliary.

Gromack, along with Clarkstown Town Council members Shirley Lasker, Stephanie Hausner, George Hoehmann and Frank Borelli, presented the auxiliary with a proclamation highlighting their 40 years of service. State Sen. David Carlucci brought the department certificates from the state senate honoring their 40 years. Other elected officials in attendance included Clarkstown Town Clerk Justin Sweet, Clarkstown Superintendent of Highways Wayne Ballard, Clarkstown Town Judge Howard Gerber and Town Judge Scott Ugell.

One of the auxiliary members honored was Paul Murray, who served 553 hours last year.

“It isn’t really a lot of effort on my part because I enjoy being here,” he said. “It’s wonderful working with the Clarkstown Police Department. I can’t believe they let me do that. I work with a great bunch of men and women, and they’re just fantastic. I thank the town board for being so supportive. Someone asked me, ‘Why do you do this” and it’s very simple. I live here, and that’s why I do it. I love the people in this town and I love the CPD, and it’s just one of the best places to live on the planet.”

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