CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WBEN) – Cheektowaga Police are remembering the late Chief Michael Sliwinski as an attentive leader who was passionate about helping out police officers and the community at large.
Sliwinski, 55, died over the weekend from what appeared to be a massive heart attack.
"Chief Sliwinski truly cared about this community more than himself," Assistant Police Chief Brian Gould said. "He cared about the men and women of this police department. We were his family. He had a very small family, but to us, he had a very large family. He would always be here making sure things were going well. If a call happened overnight, you didn't need the captain to call him in the morning and let him know because he heard it. He was always listening."
He became a police officer in 1991 and was promoted to sergeant in 2008, captain in 2011, assistant chief in 2018, and became police chief in Cheektowaga in February 2020.
Sliwinski was among the first responders in New York City at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Services for Sliwinski will be held at the Melvin J.
Sliwinski Funeral Home on Transit Road from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Police expect heavy traffic and some delays. Sliwinski's funeral will be held Thursday morning and include a procession past the police station to St. Louis Church.
In lieu of flowers, the Sliwinski family is asking for donations to Ten Lives Club.
The Cheektowaga Town Board is tasked with naming an interim chief and may do so as early as next Tuesday during their next scheduled board meeting. Gould said there is an existing chain of command and expects operations to continue as normal, with the exception of this Thursday as some administrative activities at Cheektowaga Town Court and the police station will be affected because of the chief's funeral procession.
