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Desmond J Racicot

Senior Public Safety Advisor Cisco Public Safety & Defense

Public Safety & Defense

Chief Desmond J. Racicot joined the Plattsburgh Police Department in 1989 at the age of 20. He has served as a patrol officer, detective, lieutenant, and captain. He was promoted to Chief of Police in 2003, becoming the youngest individual to hold that position in the history of the department, and one of the youngest in the state.

Chief Racicot is a native of Plattsburgh. He attended Clinton Community College, the FBI National Academy at the University of Virginia at Quantico, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (3 Week Residential Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government).

With his experience, the city saw fit to promote the Chief in 2011 to include managing the Fire Department (36 firefighters) among his duties. For more than 18 months, while the Fire Department was in transition, Chief Racicot took on all responsibilities of Fire Chief. He ensured a seamless shift to the next leader of the Fire Department.

In addition, from 2003 to 2009, Chief Racicot has provided International and Domestic Security for high ranking members of the U.S. and European leaders. He worked in the U.S. along with overseas in Ireland, Switzerland, and Africa.

The Chief has worked tirelessly to apply modern techniques and principles of law enforcement, such as community policing with other state, local, and federal police agencies to his department. He has guided the department in the implementation of state-of-the-art technology. This technology is used to operate the office more efficiently and to bolster on-gong criminal investigations.

Articles

February 21, 2017

GOVERNMENT

How Police Departments are Harnessing Technology to Make a Difference

3 min read

In law enforcement, minutes can literally mean the difference between life and death. Time really is of the essence for Public Safety agencies when responding to the daily mix of crimes, accidents and emergency calls. Fortunately, a variety of innovative new technologies are now available to police departments nationwide that can enable officers to respond […]