DEPARTMENT HISTORY

Following the incorporation of the Village of Larchmont, the Board of Trustees made one of the first orders of business to provide police services in the newly established Village. Accordingly, on October 10, 1891 the Village Board appointed Constable Richard Restore. To assist the constable carry out his duties several “gentlemen volunteers” were added to the complement.

By 1893 a second constable joined the ranks of the police department, by 1896 there were three constables patrolling Larchmont and finally on March 15, 1898 a full time police department was organized with an aggregate complement of five patrolmen. In fact, at the time Larchmont boasted the only full-time uniformed police force along the Boston Post Road between New Rochelle and Stamford.

William M. Hynds, one of the original five patrolmen was appointed the Department’s first Captain in 1902; he would later become the first Chief of Police. Under his direction the Larchmont Police Department, whose headquarters along with the   Fire Department and Village Hall were located at Circle and Linden Avenues, acquired bicycles for each member of the force. By the early 1920’s Village Hall was relocated to a new building at the intersection of Larchmont Avenue and Boston Post Road, the Police Department complement had risen to seventeen, and motorcycles were added to augment the conventional foot patrols.

As the Village of Larchmont grew, so did the Larchmont Police Department.   On April 17, 1933 William J. Keresey was promoted Chief of Police, and would remain in that capacity until 1974. Under his direction police   radios were installed in 1937 revolutionizing the way officers were dispatched to calls for service, and drastically reducing response time.

Over the years, under the direction of several Chiefs of Police the Larchmont Police Department has grown and changed with the times. Today it continues to strive to be a progressive police agency while maintaining the small town community policing practices and personalized police service intended by its founders and embodied in those charged with its direction.

                     (some images courtesy of the Larchmont Historical Society)