READY TO MOVE ON
Watervliet Police Chief Mark Spain is set to retire next week
WATERVLIET, N.Y. » After spending 21-years in law enforcement, Watervliet Police Chief Mark Spain is set to retire from the department next week.
Spain, 50, has been with the department throughout his whole law enforcement career. He began at age 30 in 1998 and served as a patrolman for about seven years before moving up the ranks — first as a sergeant, then a lieutenant, before becoming acting chief and chief of police in 2016. Spain also served as a school resource officer for some time.
Prior to becoming a police officer, Spain worked as a training manager for a health insurance company, but said he was inspired to become a police officer, after seeing his father-in-law, Joe Germano, work as a city cop for many years.
Spain said his last day with the department will be Friday, May 31, however, his official retirement date is set for July 20.
Next month, Spain said he will start his new public safety position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Spain said he is looking for
ward to being able to work more on the operations side of things again while at RPI since he has missed that part of the job since becoming chief.
“[ The chief position] is very heavy on the administrative side and I’m kind of an operations guy and I don’t really get the chance to do operations as much now,” he said. “That’s really part of the job that I miss.”
“I think [the position at RPI] provides me an opportunity to get back to my roots and get back to really what intrigued me about [ law enforcement],” he added. “It’s been an honor to serve the community that I live in.”
Spain said he is also looking forward to spending more time with family and intends to continue to reside in the city.
Spain took over a department that had lost its trust in the community after several officers were charged with various crimes.
During his tenure as chief, Spain said he has worked hard to rebuild the department’s reputation, hosting community meet-andgreet and cultural events with his officers and communicating with the community through social media, all as part of an effort to adopt more of the concepts of community policing.
“We had to admit the mistakes that [the department] made, and then we had to try to work together to move forward from those mistakes,” said Spain. “It’s nothing that we ever hid from and to be honest with you, I think we’ve made great strides with the community to get to where we are right now.”
One incident that Spain recalled during his tenure as chief actually occurred within his first four hours on the job as chief. In Jan. 2016, city police responded to a standoff at a two-family home at 2320 Fourth Ave. Michael J. Fox was eventually charged and convicted of killing 29-year-old Brandon T. Sherwin.
“Certainly, nobody wants to start their career that way, but I think from a procedural and an operational standpoint, that got me ready for what I was going to need to face from the [chief] position,” he said.
City General Manager Jeremy Smith commended Spain for the job he did as chief and noted that city officials will look internally and externally for Spain’s replacement.
Mayor Michael Manning, who appointed Spain to his chief role, thanked Spain for his service with the department and for working so well under his leadership.
“I think he’s done a ter