Westchester County, New York’s First Hispanic Police Chief
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Connections to the Community
That decision was instrumental in his quick ascension through the Bedford Police ranks. Two years later, when his predecessor decided to retire from the force to pursue other opportunities, he recommended to the Town Board that Padilla be appointed to take his place. The board took his advice by appointing Padilla as the Provisional Police Chief in November 2014. Padilla is currently waiting for the results of the grueling seven-hour promotional exam he took in March of this year to turn that “provisional” status into “permanent,” and he’s already making his mark.
“As a department, we’re actively investing in our relationship with the public, which I think is very important. If you look at current tensions throughout the country, I think the core of some of that is a strained relationship between the community and the police. We’re not currently experiencing that tension because we put a lot of effort into creating bridges of communication and connection to the community we serve. My intention is to continue and build upon that as we move forward,” Padilla remarks.
This includes Bedford’s Hispanic community. Raised by two Puerto Rican parents—his mother was born in Puerto Rico and his father in Manhattan—he’s well aware of some of the challenges that segment of the population faces. Growing up in the suburbs of Poughkeepsie, New York, where at the time there were very few Hispanics, he was encouraged by his mother and father to assimilate, with his parents deciding not to teach him Spanish—and only using it in the house when they didn’t want to share something with him, like “around Christmas,” Padilla jokes. Now, however, “Learning to speak Spanish is something I am actively working on. It is more important now than ever with my current position,” he says.
And as the first Hispanic police chief in Westchester County, he feels the undocumented Hispanic community may feel more comfortable to approach him with challenges they may be facing. As he explains, “Many of them don’t trust the police because they think they might be deported. But if they can look at a chief of police who is familiar to them even if only in appearance for now, we might be able to create an environment where they feel comfortable reporting something that happened to them without the feeling we are out to get them.”
An Equal Quality of Life
Padilla himself prefers playing down the hype surrounding “the first Hispanic police chief,” knowing that it was his experience and professional evolution—from the U.S. Navy, to NYPD, to the Bedford Police Department and the FBI National Academy—that got him to where he is today, in a position he loves and in a community he’s come to appreciate as a great place to raise his two young sons.
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