RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Rodney Harrison will step down as Suffolk County police commissioner Friday after nearly two years on the job.
The announcement came as a surprise to many, as Harrison has received national praise in recent months over the Suffolk PD's July arrest of Rex Heuermann in the decade-old Gilgo Beach serial killer case.
Harrison made the announcement in an email to the department Thursday night.
Harrison told Newsday he has no immediate plans for the future, but he looks to spend time with his family and continue his work in law enforcement.
Harrison said overseeing the department as it cracked the Gilgo case was one of the most rewarding moments in his law enforcement career.
"It was a challenge, but I will say this: Just being able to bring the law enforcement people together to get to that point to identifying our subject was a major accomplishment for me in law enforcement, being able to bring comfort to the families," he said. "Sometimes my predecessors got a bad rap for not getting the job done. I thought that was very unfair because a lot of good work was done before I got there. We were just able to take it over the finish line."
Harrison was the first Black police commissioner in Suffolk County. Before his move to Long Island, he spent 30 years in the NYPD, rising to chief of the department.
A new county executive, who will be elected in the Nov. 7 election, will have the task of choosing the next police commissioner. Because of term limits, current county executive Steve Bellone will finish his 12 years in office on Dec. 31.