Sea Isle police officers join with McQuillen and Desiderio, center, to celebrate the new chief's appointment.
By Donald Wittkowski
He grew up on 47th Place, the sixth of eight children raised by Joan and Frank McQuillen.
Other than serving a three-year hitch in the Army, Tom McQuillen has spent his entire life in Sea Isle City.
“I grew up in this town. It is a very, very special place for me,” McQuillen said.
Now, the local kid-turned cop will be in charge of protecting the community he so deeply loves as Sea Isle’s new police chief.
With his parents, his wife, Maria, and his daughters, Adyson, 11, and Alyssa, 7, at his side, McQuillen was sworn in as chief Tuesday by Mayor Leonard Desiderio and immediately pledged to move the police department forward to the “highest levels we have ever achieved.”
“I stand before you today to make a promise to you: We may not always agree on ideas, methods or the changes we will make, but I hope you each know me well enough to know that I only have all of our best interests in mind,” McQuillen told a packed crowd in the Council Chambers at City Hall. “There’s no other motivation; I simply want what is best for all of us in Sea Isle.”
The audience filling the Council Chambers at City Hall gives McQuillen a standing ovation.
Erupting in cheers and applause, the audience gave McQuillen a standing ovation when Desiderio introduced him as the new police chief. McQuillen’s appointment by the mayor was unanimously endorsed by the five-member City Council.
“I have the utmost confidence that Chief McQuillen will lead our police department in a way that we’re accustomed to and into the future,” Desiderio said during the ceremony.
McQuillen succeeds former Police Chief Tom D’Intino, who retired in January after a 28-year career with the department, including the past 10 years as chief.
The 45-year-old McQuillen has climbed the ranks since joining the department in 1999, becoming a sergeant in 2009, a lieutenant in 2012 and a captain in 2015. As a rookie patrolman, it was always his dream to someday become chief.
“It has been my goal my entire career to get to this position. I’m very humbled and honored to have achieved this,” he said in an interview after he was sworn in.
McQuillen is joined by his daughters, Alyssa and Adyson, and his wife, Maria.
Choking back his emotions during the ceremony, McQuillen thanked his parents, wife and children for their love and support. He also expressed his gratitude to the mayor and City Council for their trust in appointing him to head the department.
“I have worked very hard my entire career to get to this point. I will not let you down,” he said.
McQuillen then turned his attention to his fellow police officers. One of them is his 39-year-old brother, Jim, who is a sergeant.
“Today is a new day for all of us, a new beginning for us to show who we really are,” he told the officers. “We will not look backwards or focus on the past; we are moving forward together.”
He also used his remarks to emphasize that there will be changes taking place under his leadership, “some immediately, and some over time.”
“As we move ahead over the next few weeks and months, I am looking forward to working with all of you on implementing new and exciting ideas that we all have,” he told the audience. “I place great importance on unity, honesty, integrity, loyalty, friendship and hard work.”
Sea Isle police officers flank McQuillen and Desiderio while celebrating the new chief's appointment.
McQuillen said he plans to build a stronger relationship between the police department and the community by holding a series of meetings with residents, civic groups and the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization.
“We want to see what we’re doing right, see what we can improve on and see how we can do that,” he said in the interview.
As captain, McQuillen was paid $146,000 annually. The city still must negotiate his new salary as police chief, Business Administrator George Savastano said.
McQuillen and Capt. Anthony Garreffi were the candidates for chief following D’Intino’s retirement. They were interviewed by a selection committee that included Savastano, City Council President Mary Tighe and former Ocean City Police Chief Bob Blevin.
Desiderio said he accepted the committee’s recommendation to name McQuillen, although he noted that he also relied on his own observations as part of his appointment of the new chief.
“I mainly went with the suggestion of the selection committee,” the mayor said.
At the same time, Desiderio praised Garreffi, who had served as acting police chief during the transition between D’Intino’s retirement and McQuillen’s appointment.
“Captain Garreffi is an excellent, excellent officer,” Desiderio said. “He has a great future. He is young enough that someday he could be chief.”
Desiderio said he received many letters of support from the community endorsing both McQuillen and Garreffi.
Now that he has assumed the role as chief, McQuillen stressed that he plans to ask the community and his fellow officers for help when he “may not have all the answers.”
He used a quote from Steve Jobs, the late chairman and co-founder of the computer giant Apple Inc., to underscore the importance of teamwork. “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people,” McQuillen said.
He closed his remarks during the swearing-in ceremony by adding, “Together, we will move this town and this police department forward to the highest levels we have ever achieved.”
