Ed Frost sworn in as new chief of the Riverhead Police Department

What looked to be the entirety of the Riverhead Police force showed out for the momentous swearing in of their brother in blue, Lt. Edward Frost, as the new chief of the department.

Mr. Frost teared up at the sight of his supportive fellow officers and the look of pride of his family — wife Janine and sons Eddie, Garett and Kyle — in the audience at the special Town Board meeting on Wednesday.

“I would like to thank everyone that showed up here today to support this promotion. I look forward to working with you guys all closely — I probably supervised most of you throughout my time,” Mr. Frost said to the officers in the room. “I’ll do the best I can and I’m sure I’ll do well.”

The promotion by the Town Board followed the approval of Chief David Hegermiller’s retirement, who served in the role for the last 23 years and worked in the department for a total of 42 years.

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard wished Mr. Hegermiller luck on his retirement and praised the former chief on how he led the department during “uncharted territory” at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included Mr. Hegermiller’s effort to schedule vaccinations for first responders.

“I think the Riverhead Police Department — I don’t mean to insult any of our other agencies that are here — is one of the finest police departments around, and that credit goes right to the top, and it should,” Mr. Hubbard said. “[Mr. Hegermiller] really ran the town for quite a time, along with running the police department, and I will forever be grateful for him getting us through COVID.”

Mr. Hegermiller was not present at the special town board meeting for his retirement. The former chief has not responded to multiple requests for an interview.

The vote to appoint Mr. Frost to chief was unanimous between Mr. Hubbard, Councilwoman Joann Waski and Coucilwoman Denise Merrifield, with council members Robert Kern and Kenneth Rothwell absent.

“It’s been long time coming,” Mr. Hubbard said to the new police chief. “You’ve been a dedicated member of our department for 31 years and you’ve always worked your hardest at doing your job, and many of the men and women have worked directly underneath you were so ecstatic when they knew we were making you the next chief of police.”

Along with the town board, Ms. Waski congratulated Mr. Frost as well and encouraged him to “savor this moment.”

“I am part of the police family in more ways than than one and I know that you’re going to do exceptional things, and you are going to be the leader that you’ve proven to be in the past,” Ms. Waski said. “I have never seen the morale that’s in this room like it is today.”

Mr. Frost, 54, joined the Riverhead Police Department right out of the police academy in June 1994 and held various sergeant roles throughout his three-decades-long career. He was promoted to detective sergeant in 2015 and held that position until he became a lieutenant in 2021. The new chief has lived in Wading River for the last 36 years.

He has charged the Police Athletic League in Riverhead for the past two years, which is a nonprofit organization that provides youth sports programs throughout Suffolk County. He is also the head of the Juvenile Aid Bureau, where all youths who have committed a crime under the age of 16 are processed. This sector of the police department is also for the Youth Court, a voluntary alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system designed for first time offenders ages 16 and under.

At Thursday afternoon’s town board meeting, Mr. Frost discussed his longterm visions and plans for the police department, which currently has 96 officers.

Some of the changes he envisions includes strengthening community relations, addressing quality of life issues in the downtown area, partnering with other local law enforcement agencies, reviewing police staffing to get the number of officers up to 100, grant opportunities to assist the police department with equipment purchases and technological advances.

Mr. Frost is interested in installing additional cameras to key spots throughout Riverhead Town, obtaining fixed/mobile license plate readers and looking into IT programs and training that would aid officers in data analysis.

“I hope to be a fair but firm leader… if you respect others, it goes a long way,” Mr. Frost said. “I just want to be community-minded, I’m looking for technology advances because being a detective sergeant — investigation wise — [proper technology] is huge.”

In terms of building relationships with the public, Mr. Hubbard said Mr. Frost will be hosting three meet-and-greets at the Riverhead Senior Center, at Riverhead Town Hall and Riley Avenue Elementary School in early September for community members to come out and get to know their new police chief.

“It’s an honor for this,” Mr. Frost said. “This is such a tremendous responsibility that I take very seriously.”