Coventry Police Chief Announces Retirement

COVENTRY, RI —Coventry's top cop announced his retirement on Monday. After a quarter-century with the department, Colonel John MacDonald will be leaving at the end of February.

In a letter to the community, MacDonald said he is leaving to accept a "rare, unexpected opportunity" to become the State Army Aviation Officer with the Rhode Island National Guard, which he has been a part of for more than 28 years.

"I want thank the amazing community of Coventry for all of their support for our department," MacDonald wrote in part. "My time in Coventry has been extremely rewarding and I have had the opportunity to build friendships with fellow staff and members of our community that will last a lifetime."

MacDonald joined the Coventry Police Department in August 1994, serving as an officer until he was promoted to Sergeant in 2003. He continued to move up through the ranking, being named a Field Training Officer and the leader of the regional SWAT team. In August 2015, MacDonald was named Chief of Police, also serving as the town's director of emergency management. Throughout his tenure, he has been awarded many letters of recommendation and commendation.

In his time with the department, MacDonald was part of many major projects, including offering his support and leadership during Mach 2010's historic flooding, Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Winter Storm Nemo in 2013.

In his time with the National Guard, MacDonald has been deployed overseas twice, earning a Bronze Star and commanding a Blackhawk Helicopter Company in Iraq in 2005. He has been a helicopter pilot since 1995.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Colonel MacDonald for his many years of service to the Town of Coventry and the State of Rhode Island, as well as his military service to the country," said Interim Town Manager Edward Warzycha. "John is a vital member of the town of Coventry management team and family. He has always gone above and beyond to serve the people of Coventry."

The town has already begun the search for MacDonald's replacement.

"I’ve enjoyed working with Colonel MacDonald, and will greatly miss his knowledge and wisdom that he added to any discussion on the issues facing the Town of Coventry," Warzycha continued.

Colonel MacDonald's thank-you letter to the town is published in full below.

Last month, I submitted a letter to our Acting Town Manager, Mr. Warzycha thanking him for his support and informing him of my intention to retire as Chief of Police and Emergency Management Director for the Town of Coventry. Prior to October of this year, I had no plans to retire from service with the department, but an unforeseen opportunity presented itself with the Rhode Island National Guard. In November, I received notification of my selection as the next State Army Aviation Officer. This is a rare, unexpected opportunity to enter the full time force at the senior officer level and one, which I simply could not pass up.

It was my goal when I became Police Chief was to leave the Coventry Police Department a better place than when I started. To that end, we embarked on a strategic plan, which including securing the public's support for a new police facility. While in the process of designing and building the new facility, we also achieve many of our goals in the ensuing years including RI Police Accreditation, organizational realignment, and many new uniform and equipment initiatives. We have improved our cyber protection posture, human resource management and investigative abilities through improved technology purchases and training. We have significantly improved our school safety posture through collaborations with Superintendent Levis, the great staff at Coventry Schools, our High School and Middle School Resource Officers, and liaison officers in the elementary schools. Finally, we have been able to work on many community-policing initiatives that have greatly improved our connection to the community. Coffee with a Cop, social media outreach, Citizen Police Academy and public events collaborating with fellow town departments like Human Services and Parks and Recreations are just a few programs that have fostered a better sense of trust between our citizens and police force.

I can say without a doubt that we have recruited and trained an outstanding young group of patrol officers who watch over the community every day and whose great work often goes unseen. Backing up these officers to dive deeper in investigations is a hardworking and well equipped group of dedicated detectives. Surrounding them is our vital and talented civilian support staff including our dispatchers, animal control, clerks, maintenance, and our business manager and IT professional. Coventry residents should be proud and assured that they are well served by this group of law enforcement professionals.

I thank Acting Town Manager Ed Warzycha, as well as all of our past and present council members, for their unwavering support of public safety. Thank you for listening to my messages about how vital staffing, training and equipping our officers is so that they can deliver essential police services to our deserving and growing community.

I want to thank our building committee members, Bill Finnegan, Tom Hetherman and Julie
Leddy who have worked diligently to stay under budget and deliver the best possible facility for our officers, DHS staff and residents. I thank them for volunteering countless hours on behalf of the men and women of CPD and the Town of Coventry. To our Emergency Management Team, please keep up the good work that you all do. I feel we have a strong emergency management posture thanks to the diligent efforts of our team. Finally, thank you to thank the men and women of the Coventry Police Department who I have worked with, past and present, for their
hard work, support, mentorship and friendship. It has been an honor to wear the uniform of the
Coventry Police Department for the last 25 years standing next to all of you.

I want thank the amazing community of Coventry for all of their support for our department. My time in Coventry has been extremely rewarding and I have had the opportunity to build friendships with fellow staff and members of our community that will last a lifetime. I hope to say many goodbyes over the coming weeks, as I anticipate my retirement date will be sometime in late February. My priority will be finishing the last few projects in the new facility and providing whatever support I can during the transition to the next Chief of Police. It has been a privilege to lead this outstanding organization and I hope that I leave it a better place for having served. May God bless the Coventry Community and the members of Coventry Police Department past and present.

Very respectfully,

Colonel John S. MacDonald