Gloversville police chief to retire

Police Chief Donald VanDeusen, a 25-year veteran of the force, announced this week that he will retire at the end of the month.

Police Chief Donald VanDeusen, a 25-year veteran of the force, announced this week that he will retire at the end of the month.

The 46-year-old will leave for a private-sector job in security and emergency management supervision, he said, though he declined to name the company.

“I’m very proud to have worked for the city of Gloversville and its residents,” he said on Friday. “I think there’s a lot of good people in the city of Gloversville and I’m happy to have served them for this long.”

VanDeusen was promoted to chief in 2012 following the retirement of former chief Edgar Beaudin. He began his career with the department as a patrolman in 1990 and worked in the detective division from 1997 until 2012.

He said he had planned on retiring at the end of the year, but an opportunity in the private sector arose sooner. He has been working on a transition plan that includes recommending Capt. Marc Porter to take his place as police chief.

Gloversville Mayor Dayton King said on Friday that, unofficially, “Captain Porter will be the next chief.”

He expects him to be appointed in early March after VanDeusen’s official last day on Feb. 28.

“I believe [Porter] has the required skill set and the ability to do the job better than anybody else at this point,” VanDeusen said. “I wholeheartedly recommend him with no reservations.”

VanDeusen has been credited with improvements in the efficiency of the Police Department in recent years, credit that he passes wholly to his staff.

“That credit belongs to the men and women who work for me, and I want them to understand that I appreciate their efforts all the way through,” he said. “And without their hard work and dedication, I would never have been as successful as I was able to be.”

Porter said in the time that VanDeusen has been chief, he rebuilt the Glove Cities Emergency Response Team, which is shared with Johnstown, updated patrol vehicles and equipment, began updating the department’s policies and best practices, put the department on the path to state accreditation, and most recently instituted Narcan training, among other accomplishments.

VanDeusen said one disappointment is that he was unable to enact a body-camera program that be began exploring last year. In May, he said he wanted the department to be “ahead of the curve” in terms of equipping officers with body cameras.

But the move proved to be impractical, he said, as the department does not have the support staff required to process the large quantity of footage and respond to public information requests.

“There is some talk of expansion of some civilian staff to be able to accommodate that going forward,” he said on Friday. “And I hope that does happen because I think that that’s an important issue.”

VanDeusen’s retirement and Porter’s likely promotion will mean several internal promotions and hiring a new patrolman as the vacancy ripples downward, Porter said.

King said VanDeusen has been “great” for the department.

“He holds the guys accountable, he motivates them, he has great public relations, and we’re certainly going to miss him,” he said. “But I don’t think we’re going to miss a beat with Captain Porter.”

Porter has been with the department for 18 years. He said he’s worked closely with VanDeusen, especially in the past several years, and called him the “most influential person” in his professional development.

He said he was “humbled” by VanDeusen’s recommendation.

“I don’t have any intentions of reinventing the wheel,” he said. “The chief’s left a solid foundation to build on, so I really want to just make sure that we’re continuing to make sure our officers are properly equipped and properly trained to the same standard that we’ve set forth and continue to work on some of the long-term projects that we started.”