Divisions | Office of the Chief
Office of the Chief
Chief Dean M. Esserman
Monday - Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Contact Number: 203-946-6333
Born on September 6, 1957 in New York City, Dean M. Esserman has spent virtually his entire adult life in public service as a law enforcement practitioner. Chief Esserman served as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York from 1983 to 1987. He went on to serve as a Special Assistant United State Attorney before serving as General Counsel to Chief William Bratton of the New York City Transit Police from 1987 to 1991.
Chief Esserman was Assistant Chief of Police in New Haven, Connecticut from 1991 to 1993, where he put into effect a community-policing plan, the state's first federally funded drug gang task force, and cut crime city-wide. He then became Chief of Police for the M. T.A. Metro North Police Department, headquartered in New York City, serving from 1993 to 1998.
Chief Esserman was appointed in 1998 as Chief of Police in Stamford, Connecticut. In 2002 Chief Esserman returned to New York City to join Thacher Associates. Later that year he was recruited as the Chief of Police of the City of Providence, Rode Island, where he served 8 ½ years until July 1, 2011.
Dean Esserman is a graduate of Dartmouth College (B.A.), and New York University School of Law (J.D.), and holds a lecturer’s appointment at the Yale University Child Study Center. He is a member of the New York and Massachusetts Bar. He’s recently served as a Distinguished Professor at the Roger Williams University School of Law and School of Justice Studies. He presently serves as a member of the National Board of the Vera Institute of Justice and the Local Support Initiatives Corporation (LISC) and also served as a former board member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). He is also a life time member of the IACP.
Dean Esserman and his wife Gilda have 3 children: Rolando, Nellie-June (born in New Haven) and Sam.
