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LEWISBORO, N.Y. – A John Jay graduate will join two fellow alumni as the third full-time officer with the Lewisboro Police Department when she completes her training with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety next month.
Erika Kirschner was hired last August and graduated from the police academy Dec. 20. After logging at least 30 tours with county police and 10 tours with Lewisboro police, she will be ready to hit the road full-time. She will then start March 3, Police Chief Frank Secret III said.
“When she’s done training with the county, she’s as ready as anyone could ever be to hit the road. What they do is outstanding,” he said.
Both of the other two full-time officers also completed their field training with Westchester County at its facility in Valhalla. Like all three full-time officers, Secret graduated from John Jay High School in 1975. He was a youth officer at the high school when Kirschner was a student.
“I think she’ll do a good job,” he said.
Officer David Alfano was the first full-time patrol officer ever hired by the department in July 2012. It previously employed only part-time patrol officers. It hired Andrew E. Llewellyn in 2012 thanks to a state grant that pays part of his salary. He is a full-time school resource officer at the John Jay campus.
Town Supervisor Peter Parsons said the town has been working to steadily improve the level of policing in Lewisboro. The local police department previously shared its headquarters on 21 Spring Street in South Salem with state police until it moved to a new location on 20 North Salem Road in Cross River in March.
The town offered the old space to state police to use as a satellite station to the Somers Barracks. Since state police took over the space, it has increased the number of troopers stationed there from three to six.
“One of the most important things about a police force is that they are seen,” Parsons said. “They reduce crime just by being there, by people knowing there is a chance of them noticing a policeman on the street.”
Lewisboro was recently ranked the third safest town in New York with a population greater than 5,000 by Movoto, a real estate research site. The site ranked 213 municipalities based on FBI crime statistics from 2012.
“Lewisboro has never exactly been a dangerous place to live,” Parsons said. “Truth is though that people more and more expect a responsive police force.”
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