Sleepy Hollow police chief retiring after 23 years
The longest serving police chief in the history of Sleepy Hollow is ready to give up his badge July 31.
Chief James Montalbano doesn't know what the future holds for him.
After joining the department 38 years ago and spending 23 of them as chief, he knows it's time for him to move on.
“I've been here a long time, and I think it's time that I change — that's really all that it boils down to,” the Elgin resident said. “I don't want to stay here my entire life.”
Montalbano, 71, who started his policing career in the village, announced his retirement last week during a board meeting.
The village board will appoint an interim chief after Montalbano leaves and is expected to begin a search in four months — after the conclusion of a certification review for the department's policies, Village President Stephen Pickett said.
Montalbano joined the force as one of four part-time officers in 1974. Three months later, he accepted a full-time position with the department and two years later, he was promoted to sergeant, a title he held for 13 years.
In 1989, then-Village President Theresa Peterson promoted Montalbano to chief.
As the village grew, so did the police department.
As sergeant, Montalbano instituted internal training for his officers, which had not been taking place prior to his promotion.
As chief, Montalbano renovated the police station to add a holding cell, a sally port and additional space, invested in purchasing more squad cars and hired more officers.
When he started, there were seven officers and today, there are 19.
“One of my goals was to have at least two officers on the street at a time and we got to that,” Montalbano said.
The highlights of his career include training at the FBI Academy in 1995, helping his officers in a 12-hour standoff in 1985, and a drug bust the department made in 1980 that turned up nearly $2 million worth of marijuana in a field near Randall Road.
“Every day's been an interesting day,” Montalbano said.
Pickett said Montalbano is the strong and silent type and that he'll miss Montalbano's devotion to the town and its people.
“He cares very much about the village of Sleepy Hollow, his position, the people he works for, the people that work for him,” Pickett said. “He's not a loud and boisterous type of individual, but he is very strong and maintains discipline within his department and within his people.”
Plans to consolidate the police force, meanwhile, are expected to remain on ice.
Within the last two years, the village board has resisted two attempts to consolidate its police force with the Dundees.
Montalbano said there had been four other consolidation attempts previously but that they, too, went nowhere.
With the chief's retirement, Pickett doesn't see consolidation talks coming back to the table anytime soon.
“The last review of the consolidation this past winter, we were not going to be financially benefiting, it was actually going to cost us a few hundred thousand dollars and until we can resolve that type of issue, I don't see anything going forward on a consolidation at the moment,” Pickett said.
Montalbano is married and has four children, in addition to six grandchildren.
He teaches a judo class at the Dundee Township Park District and expects to continue doing so after retirement. But beyond that, his life remains a question mark.
“I don't know what I'm going to get into, I honestly don't,” Montalbano said. “What does tomorrow hold, I don't know.