Rome mayor: Deputy Chief David Collins appointed as next police chief
Rome will have a new police chief by the end of this month.
Deputy Chief David Collins will be sworn in as chief this Friday, Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo and city Public Safety Commissioner Frank Retrosi Jr. announced Tuesday.
Collins will be replacing Chief Kevin Beach, who announced at the beginning of January he will retire after serving 14 years as chief.
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Izzo and Retrosi also announced Capt. Cheyenne Schoff will be appointed the next deputy chief in Collins' place. Both the appointments are effective Monday, Jan. 31.
A formal swearing in ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday in city Common Council chambers. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it will be livestreamed on the police department's Facebook page.
Collins, 47, will be the first Black officer appointed police chief in the department's history. He said it was a sign of progress that Rome's police force is starting to look more and more like the community it serves.
"When you get to see different faces and different people, it shows a type of progression," he said. "There's nothing going to hold anyone back."
Collins said his No. 1 goal as chief will be maintaining a positive relationship with the community, including continuing the Community Advisory Committee reintroduced by Beach.
Collins moved to Rome by chance at 16, due to his father's service in the United States Air Force. It was his last assignment before Griffiss Air Force base closed down.
After graduating from Rome Free Academy, Collins joined the United States Army. He left active duty service in 1996 and returned to Rome.
"This was where I wanted to come back to," he said.
Collins served over 22 years in the military between active duty and the reserves before retiring in 2018. He said his father, a retired Air Force master sergeant, was his greatest hero; but he had additional interests in both police work and the medical field. Prior to his hire as a Rome police officer in 2005, he was a licensed practical nurse at St. Elizabeth Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica.
Schoff, 43, has worked in the Rome police department for the last 15 years, according to the city's announcement. Prior to that, he worked as a security officer at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona and a correction officer for the Madison County Sheriff's Office.
Collins said he and Schoff have had a good working relationship since their time as patrolmen, and Schoff offers a "wealth of knowledge."
"I'm excited to see what we can do," he said.
H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Rome announces David Collins as new police chief
