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Steven J. McManus, pictured here with his father, was appointed as Westhampton Beach's chief of police on Oct. 7. COURTESY MARIA MOORE
Steven J. McManus was appointed chief of police on Oct. 7 COURTESY MARIA MOORE
Steven McManus was formally tapped to lead the Westhampton Beach Police Department by the Village Board at an October 7 meeting. He joined the department in 2003, and served as interim chief for nearly a year.
At the meeting, McManus recounted a trip he took with his grandparents out east to Westhampton Beach when he was young. His grandfather, a retired New York City Police Department officer, told him that the area was one he would want to work in as an officer.
“I guess grandpa knew what he was talking about, especially as I stand here today,” McManus said after being sworn in.
Now, McManus will have the opportunity to shape the department after working in it for 18 years — and after a year filled with historic and sweeping calls for police reform and racial justice.
“Being provisional, I didn’t want to institute any changes that would have had a major effect upon the department until it became a permanent position,” McManus said October 12 during a phone interview. “Now I’ll be able to start to implement some of those changes.”
McManus said he was looking to make “major” changes to the department’s leadership by adding positions to increase supervision.
“I currently have only one sergeant, I don’t have an executive officer, and I need more supervision,” he said. “You need to have a strong command structure in the department just to have the place run smoothly.”
In response to a question on policing in the aftermath of both local and national movements for racial justice and police reform in 2020, McManus said he worked with Mayor Maria Moore on the state-mandated reforms, and that “one of the major things there was having our department involved more with the public at special events.”
Moore said she was not available to be interviewed for this story. In an emailed statement, she said McManus’s tenure as acting chief was “excellent.”
“McManus has evaluated the needs of the Village in terms of police staffing and training, effectively communicated with the village’s Law Enforcement Review Committee in the creation of their recommendations, and is in the process of upgrading the department’s policies and procedures,” Moore said in the statement.
As previously reported by The Press, the village’s Law Enforcement Review Committee’s plan called for upgraded body cameras, community outreach and the replacement of the department’s records management system with one that is more easily searchable.
McManus said he upgraded the body cameras worn by the department’s officers.
“It’s better for the officers, it’s better for the public, it’s better for us when we try to release videos over to the [District Attorney’s] office,” he said.
When he was slated as interim chief, Mcmanus was a sergeant in the department. Before that, he served as both a patrol officer and a detective.
“This is a great community to work in,” McManus said. “We have a great relationship with our residents.”
McManus succeeded Trevor Gonce, who retired suddenly in November 2020. At the time, McManus remarked how his ascension to the top of the department occurred unexpectedly and quickly.
“I thought [Gonce] was going to be here a long time,” McManus told The Press in December 2020. “This is a jump.”
According to the village’s website, the department has nine officers, one detective, one sergeant, one public safety dispatcher and one police operations aide.
After his swearing in on October 7, McManus thanked the board members for their “unwavering support” throughout his 11 months as interim chief.
Before joining the Westhampton Village Police Department in 2003, McManus served as a campus police officer at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury. He was raised in Suffolk County.
Alec Giufurta on Oct 13, 2021