Wanaque police chief retires after seven years — but don't think he's going away
A 33-year run in local law enforcement ended Thursday as Wanaque Police Chief Robert Kronyak capped his career.
His retirement leaves the department without a sworn-in and badged member of the Kronyak family for the first time in more than 55 years. Like his father, Robert Kronyak Sr., Kronyak served roughly seven years as the town's top cop before going on terminal leave.
Kronyak said Friday that his departure was bittersweet. Although he had "checked all the boxes" on his to-do list as chief, Kronyak said leaving a department he helped build was difficult.
"All the people that I've been there with for so long, they've come and gone," he said. "Now we're a young department, and it's like watching your kids. It's fun to be a part of. We have a great bunch of guys and gals."
Before Kronyak's last day in office, the borough's governing body appointed Capt. Keith Spillane as the interim officer in charge of the Police Department. A permanent replacement is likely to be named early in 2023.
Kronyak, 59, started in the Wanaque Police Department at the end of 1989 after nearly accepting a patrolman's position in Raleigh, North Carolina. Previously an attendant turned mechanic at a local gas station, Kronyak said he wasn't as inspired to become a police officer by his father as he was by his father's contemporaries, namely Robert Lyons, the former head of the Passaic County Police Academy.
"I wasn't so much interested in it because of the lifestyle," he said. "Having your father as a cop can be a little bit difficult, but after listening to all those guys it kind of interested me."
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After graduating from the police academy, Kronyak worked for the next eight years as a patrolman. Promoted to sergeant in 1998, he became a lieutenant in 2007. In 2013, he was promoted to captain.
Kronyak said he never expected to be chief but knew he was well prepared. As lieutenant under former Police Chief John "Jack" Reno, Kronyak said, he learned the ins and outs of payroll, budgeting and purchasing.
"Chief Reno allowed me to become a better person," Kronyak said. "As chief, I was able to focus more on police functions to make our department a better fit for the town and get more involved in the community."
Kronyak was sworn in as the borough's eighth chief in April 2016 but had effectively been in charge since Chief Thomas Norton left the office in mid-December 2015. He walked out for the final time Thursday in front of his fellow officers, friends and family.
Former Ringwood Police Chief Joseph Walker said Kronyak is exactly the kind of community-focused personality you would want to lead a police force.
Kronyak has been intimately involved with the town's Golden Age seniors' club, Night to Shine events and junior police academy. He also championed the fundraising effort to restore the veterans' monument outside Borough Hall. Kronyak was honored as 2021's Citizen of the Year during the 2022 Ringwood St. Patrick's Day Parade.
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"He's a great cop, and an even better friend," Walker said. "I cannot say enough good things about him."
Born and raised in Wanaque, Kronyak attended Lakeland Regional High School and has always been involved in his community, Walker said. Kronyak's father moved to the town's Haskell section in the early 1960s. A U.S. Army veteran and advocate for higher police salaries in the department and the county, the elder Kronyak led the department from 1988 to 1995.
Although his father lives in Florida, Kronyak said he has no plans to leave the area in retirement. He has seven grandchildren residing locally and will begin volunteering with the local Feed the Needy program. He has also volunteered to help the town's Veterans of Foreign Wars group with building maintenance.
"I want to stay around," he said. "Anything I can do in the borough I will continue to do. I just love giving back to the public."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wanaque chief retires, ending 55 years with a Kronyak on the force
