Rockville Centre Police Commissioner James Vafeades announces retirement

Rockville Centre Police Commissioner James Vafeades will step down at the end of the month, after five years as head of the department.

“I am retiring very proud of my career and also very proud of the state of our Police Department and where it’s headed,” Vafeades said at the village meeting on Monday. “Rockville Center has always been a special place. The community is truly one of a kind … I certainly could not have been successful without the hard work of the great people of the Police Department. What they do day in and day out is quite something, and I have no doubt that the department will continue to thrive in my absence, and I know that the mayor and board will use their wisdom in selecting my replacement to ensure that the Rockville Centre Police Department remains the best police department in the country.”

Vafeades joined the force in 1990, following in the footsteps of his father, who served as a New York City police officer.

He graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in accounting and went on to earn a master’s in criminal justice from Molloy University.

Vafeades said that during the course of his career in the village, he made many lifelong friends. He even met his future wife while in uniform on an assignment in 1994, and together, he and Kristina have raised two daughters.

Vafeades was promoted to sergeant in 2002, and became a lieutenant in 2010. Thanks to his leadership in the field, he earned the 2010 Municipal Police Chief’s Association Distinguished Service Award. The following year, he attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia — an honor reserved for an elite few.

In 2018, he was appointed commissioner of the department, and he served throughout the coronavirus pandemic and played a pivotal role in the construction of the new state-of-the-art police headquarters on Maple Avenue.

“When it came time for a change of leadership, Jim stood out as a quiet, soft-spoken, efficient manager who, in some ways, no one saw coming, and then, slowly, without a lot of fanfare, with almost no drama, a good department became a great one,” Village Trustee Michael Sepe said. “Our residents uniformly tell us how surprised they are about how helpful and professional and polite … our police officers are. That’s not an accident. That’s a reflection of who runs it.”

As commissioner, Vafeades has been responsible for planning, organizing, supervising and directing the activities of all 58 officers and 36 civilian employees in the department. He was also instrumental in researching and providing the equipment the department needed through budgeting and grant programs, working closely with Mayor Francis Murray and the village board.

Throughout his tenure, Vafeades has been involved in all aspects of the department’s activities, from supervising patrols to working with anti-gang, anti-crime, juvenile and traffic units. He has overseen special events and led local and federal crime investigations. He has also been involved in several community programs, including the RVC Coalition for Youth.

“Commissioner Vafeades has proved that he is a phenomenal ambassador to what it means to be a police officer in Rockville Centre: smart, compassionate and determined to keep our village a community where all people feel safe and are safe,” Murray said. “It is because of his hard work and commitment that Rockville Centre has been cited as one of the safest cities in the United States of America.”

The village board presented Vafeades with a plaque in recognition of his knowledge, leadership, dedication and selfless service. He leaves behind big shoes for the board to fill as it searches for his replacement.

In addition to the announcement of Vafeades’s retirement at Monday’s meeting, the board also acknowledged the retirements of Chris O’Leary, director of the Sandel Senior Center, and Sepe, who announced that he would not run for another term as a village trustee.