David Conklin is Monroe's new top cop

By Nancy Kriz
MONROE — David Conklin can now say he's held every rank in the Village of Monroe Police Department with his recent promotion to chief.
Conklin, a lifelong village resident, received his promotion in a village ceremony attended by family, friend and village officials. His career has been completely devoted to law enforcement, which includes 16 years with the village police force and five years with the Town of Tuxedo Police before that time. He began his career working for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
"I've held every rank ... lieutenant, sergeant, then detective and before that, police officer," he said. "It was my goal to make it to the top. That's what I worked hard for and what I finally got."
Conklin praised his predecessor Alex Melchiorre, who spent the last 40 years working for the village police force in various positions. Melchiorre's not fully retiring from police work, however. He's now the chief of police for the Town of Tuxedo Park Police Department.
"He gave this community 40 years of service," Conklin said. "He's been my mentor, grooming me for this job. I will continue to rely on him."
Conklin also commended the work of all members of the police force.
"Our officers are probably the best trained officers in the tri-state area," he said. "They're very professional and they do an excellent job."

Quality of life issues

Conklin said he plans to continue to find ways to enhance the service the 18-member police force provides to the village, focusing particularly on quality of life issues.
"Quality of life is important," he explained. "It's the nuisance laws. It's loud music, disorderly conduct, urination in public and drinking in public which tend to lead to other crimes. We also want to try to combat the prevalence use of heroin that's going around. We can't stop it, but we want to educate people and do more enforcement."

Heroin and young people

Conklin cited the growing use of heroin in the community as a top police issue.
"Heroin (use) leads to so many other crimes," he said. "Yes, it's in the community and schools. We can't have a blind eye. Years ago, it was a drug that the older people would use. Now, we find high school children are using it. It's too readily available. We have two detectives who work with the Orange County Drug Task Force. They do a great job but I feel more needs to be done. And I'm going to focus on that."
A second police issue is white collar crime and identity theft, he said.
"There's IRS scams now and O&R scams," said Conklin. "Because of technology and identity theft, it's so easy now. A lot of these things generate these scams from other countries. That someone from Russia or Pakistan can get someone from Monroe to send them money, it's crazy."
Third, traffic remains an ongoing police issue as well, the new chief said.
"There's more and more traffic (on the roads)," said Conklin. "With the influx of traffic, there's more accidents, there's more violations of traffic laws. We need to focus on enforcement."

Community policing

Conklin is a big advocate of ongoing public relations activities to reinforce the important relationship the community must have with its police force.
"We need to have a partnership so we're trusted," he said. "People must realize we're accessible."
To that end, Conklin plans to introduce a "Coffee with the Chief and Officers" program this fall.
"The benefit is that you're inviting people from the community to come in and sit and have a cup of coffee and talk about any issues they have," he said. "Every resident has their own complaint, whether it's speeders on the block or loud music. We will invite them to sit down and talk about it. Then I can take action. I think it fosters stronger public relations."
That ties into the community policing philosophy the department follows on a daily basis.
"Community policing can be our patrol officers driving through the developments," said Conklin. "We're not just on the state highway. We patrol every street. We stop and we talk to residents. That's community policing to me, knowing the residents and business owners. And, I'm accessible. If anybody wants to reach out with any issues or concern, please contact me."
In particular, Conklin cited the strong relationships the department has with area schools. Officers do building walk-throughs to not only ensure safety but to greet children and get them to know and feel comfortable with a police officer.
But, it's not just cameras in school buildings which allow the department to see what's going on each day. There's active shooter trainings and evacuation and safety drills, too.
"We have a have a great partnership with the schools," he said. "And it's not just North Main and Pine Tree. It's Sacred Heart, all the preschools and Inspire."

Preparation

Conklin said he feels quite comfortable in his new role because of former Chief Melchiorre's commitment to making sure he understood the job in advance.
"There's not much of a change in my job," Conklin said. "He (Melchiorre) delegated a lot of stuff to ready me for this position. Day-to-day operations I find pretty easy, but no day is ever the same. The challenge is everything that's going on in the world. The hatred toward police is definitely a challenge. Luckily, Monroe is still a great place to live and work and our residents have shown us a lot of support these past few weeks."