William Doherty, 30-year Suffolk police veteran, named new department chief

A 30-year Suffolk County police veteran and the former chief of detectives was named chief of department — the agency’s highest-ranking sworn officer — at a news conference in Hauppauge on Tuesday.

William Doherty's Suffolk County Police Department career also includes a stint as deputy chief of patrol. Doherty had also served as commanding officer for Criminal Intelligence and Homeland Security, the Seventh Precinct and the Police Technology Bureau, police officials said. 

"It's a humbling experience," said Doherty, 56, a resident of Suffolk County. "All of a sudden you are responsible for 3,000 people and answer directly to the police commissioner. It's a lot of responsibility but a great opportunity."

Doherty replaces former Suffolk Chief of Department Robert Waring, who retired in July. 

"This is a really good police department," Doherty added. "We have great police officers. Our detectives take on unsolvable cases and they keep working and working. We have a great command staff, and a very good police department."

Doherty's promotion was part of a new leadership announcement at the department by county and police officials. Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. and Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney also attended Tuesday's press conference.

"He has more than two decades of supervisory experience in criminal investigations, personnel management and strategic policing operations," Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said. "I have no doubt he is the perfect person to lead the men and women of this department."

Former Deputy Chief of Detectives Sean Beran was promoted to chief of detectives, Catalina said. Dave Regina, the commanding officer of the department's Highway Patrol for nearly five years, was named deputy chief of patrol. 

Sixth Precinct commanding officer Todd Barone, a 32-year Suffolk police veteran, was promoted to inspector and will serve in the office of the chief of operations. Karen Kolsch, who had worked with the Community Relations Bureau, was named deputy inspector. She had previously worked in the Marine Bureau and was a captain in the Sixth Precinct, Catalina said. 

Catalina also said Inspector Mike Kelly will take over as commanding officer of the Third Precinct. Kelly is the second Black officer to reach the rank of inspector in department history and the first Black commanding officer of the Third Precinct.

Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine said it was important to him to promote from within the department and reward those who have displayed leadership qualities, rather than conduct an outside search for officials. 

"We have extremely talented, extremely knowledgeable people, and we try to reward those by promoting from within, because we have a solid department, one of the largest in the United States," Romaine said. "Why would we not look at the background and experience of all those who have served already?"

Doherty started his career with the NYPD in 1992, according to Catalina, who worked for the NYPD for decades before taking law-enforcement positions in Suffolk County.

"This is a particularly gratifying promotion for me, because me and Bill started our career together in 1992 in the New York City Police Department. We actually walked foot posts together in South Jamaica," Catalina said. "I think if you could have asked two young cops back then what the chances of this actually happening today were, we both would have gotten a pretty good chuckle out of it."