Ron Walsh resigns as Long Beach's police commissioner

The City of Long Beach announced on Monday that Police Commissioner Ron Walsh had resigned. The city said that Walsh stepped down “in order to pursue other professional opportunities.”

Long Beach Police Department Inspector Richard DePalma will serve as acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is named.

“It has been my honor and privilege to serve this department and the residents of Long Beach,” Walsh said in a statement. “I am immensely proud of the progress we have made over the past three years, and offer my respect and gratitude to the dedicated individuals who comprise the department.”

Walsh, 58, was sworn in as commissioner in February 2021, after 29 years with the Nassau County Police Department, during which he served as a police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, detective lieutenant, captain, deputy inspector, inspector, deputy chief, assistant chief and, lastly, chief of support. Walsh has been in public service for some 35 years.

A resident of Locust Valley, he worked years ago as a “summer special” in Long Beach, helping to patrol the boardwalk. He earned a degree in criminal justice administration from Mansfield University in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, in 1987, and went on to complete a master’s in public administration at Marist College, in Poughkeepsie, in 2013, so he could bring an “educational point of view, philosophical point of view and a policy point of view,” he said, to Long Beach government.

Walsh also graduated from the FBI National Academy and the Senior Management Institute for Police.

He spent nine years on the Locust Valley Board of Education, and served on the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association as well.

Walsh previously said he had fallen in love with being a police officer. During his tenure, the Long Beach P.D. saw a marked increase in hiring, and the first approval of negotiated contracts by the Police Benevolent Association and the Commanding Officers Association in decades.

Walsh also served as acting city manager for the past year, after taking over for Donna Gayden. His involvement with the Police Department did not change, and its headquarters continued to be his first stop each morning. His explained that his daily management of the city involved working with department leaders, and the City Council, to prioritize issues they felt they needed to deal with.

Gayden had also resigned unexpectedly, last Jan. 3, nearly a year before her contract was set to expire. On Jan. 2 of this year, the City Council appointed Daniel Creighton as the new city manager.

“On behalf of the city, I thank Commissioner Walsh for his unwavering dedication to the City of Long Beach and its residents,” Creighton said in a statement. “Under his leadership, the city made tremendous progress on enhancing safety and delivering an efficient and effective model of policing. He has been invaluable and selfless during our administrative transition, and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

DePalma began his career with the New York City Police Department in 1997. He joined the Long Beach department in January 2002, and has been an officer, sergeant, lieutenant, deputy inspector, executive officer and inspector.

“Congratulations to Commissioner Walsh for all of his accomplishments and a job well done,” City Council President Brendan Finn said. “He has been a credit to himself and his profession. I am sure he will continue to achieve great things in whatever endeavor he chooses as his next step. He worked hard for our city. I appreciate it.”