New police chief takes the reins at Colonie department
James Gerace began his law enforcement career in 1999
COLONIE — James “Jay” Gerace took over Friday as the town’s eighth police chief.
Gerace, 45, began his law enforcement career in 1999 with the Albany County Sheriff’s office. His policing roots run much deeper than that.
Growing up, Gerace, knew he wanted to be a Colonie police officer. His father is in his sixth decade with the department, working as an investigator. At 14, Gerace joined the town’s explorer program and then volunteered with its EMS service a few years later.
After a year as a sheriff’s deputy, Gerace joined the town police department. He worked his way up through the ranks, becoming a deputy chief in May 2021.
“I just remember when I first started here getting in this police car; I would have done this job for free. I really would have done this job for free,” he said.
The suburban town of around 85,000 residents is the most populous suburb in Albany County and has the second highest population among Capital Region municipalities, with about 15,000 fewer people than the city of Albany. It sits at the intersection of the Capital Region’s three big cities and must deal with the problems that come with that. The town has one of the busiest traffic courts in the state and major commercial corridors.
Gerace, whose annual salary is $152,132, said he views the role of the department’s 115 officers as guardians of the town and its residents. And while policing has changed since he started his career, that mission hasn’t, he said.
Gerace credited out-going chief Michael Woods, who was Gerace’s field training officer, with his career.
“I’ve always looked up to Mike Woods since I was a kid,” Gerace said during his appointment during the Dec. 21 Town Board meeting.
Woods retired on Jan. 19 after two years at the head of the department and a 32-year career.
During his time with the department, Gerace, a married father of three children, has earned a reputation as someone who works to improve the department’s approach to handling people struggling with mental illness. In 2021, he was honored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness for his work.
Last year the department and NAMI launched Handle with Care, a voluntary program for families of people with mental illness and other needs. The program is meant to help avoid potentially dangerous interactions between residents in the program and police.
Families and officers can create files with personal information on the participants, which can include everything from physical descriptions to the best ways to approach them and their tendencies. That allows officers and dispatchers to quickly receive vital information when they arrive at a call.
The program has also become popular with families of people with autism and other police departments have reached out to find out
“The Colonie Police Department is on a quest to solve problems before they start. We are going to move this department upstream.”
Colonie Police Chief James Gerace
how they can implement a similar initiative, Gerace said.
Gerace also believes the department should take a more proactive approach to addressing upstream causes of problems.
Rather than just responding to calls, he believes the department can look at issues it often deals with and try to find a way to head them off.
“The Colonie Police Department is on a quest to solve problems before they start,” he said. “We are going to move this department upstream.”