RVCPD adds three new officers
Rockville Centre Police commissioner Charles Gennario swore in three new officers at the village board of trustees meeting on Nov. 3. “Before I administer the oath of office, I just want to say we sorely need these police officers in this community,” Gennario said at the meeting. “They’re going to spend the next three decades, I’m sure, protecting and serving the residents of this community.”
Gennario also noted that each man had served in the military and pursued higher education. One of the officers, Sal Thomas, will graduate from the police academy in May, while the other two, John Murphy and Cory Bloch, had a month of training with RCPD and started work on Nov. 4. The new police officers are:
Sal Thomas
Sal Thomas was born in India and immigrated to the United States in 1985, when he was five years old. He attended high school in Rockland County and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduation. He served for nearly ten years. He deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005. After leaving the Marine Corps in 2008, Thomas attended Hofstra University, where he graduated with honors in 2010. He is a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician in his town. Thomas and his wife Tina have been married for three years.
John Murphy
John Murphy was born and raised on the eastern end of Long Island. He graduated from Mattituck High School in 1983 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as a military policeman and deployed multiple times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. After eight years of honorable service he returned to Long Island shortly after the birth of his first child. He enrolled in Suffolk Community College and received an A.S. in Police Administration and is currently working towards his bachelor’s degree in Police Technology at St. Joseph’s College. John is a graduate of the Suffolk County Police Academy and has worked for the Ocean Beach Police Department and Westhampton Police Department. His wife, Jessica is a Registered Intensive Care Unit Nurse. They have two children: Isabelle, 5, and Landon, 2.
Cory Bloch
Cory Bloch grew up in North Babylon. In 2005, Cory graduated from Jacksonville University with a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and a minor in Psychology. Cory served for seven years in the United States Coast Guard as a Maritime Enforcement Specialist. He left the Coast Guard in 2014 as a petty officer second class. Cory received a master’s degree in Homeland Security from American Military University. In January, Bloch entered the New York City Police Academy, graduated in June and was assigned to the 79th Precinct. Bloch and his wife Laura live in Suffolk County.
