New Beacon Police Chief Confirmed – The Current

City expands Fjord Trail Committee with new members

Lt. Tom Figlia was unanimously confirmed by the City Council as Beacon’s next police chief on Monday (May 20).

He will start the job on June 10. Sands Frost, who has been chief since 2020 and has spent nearly 41 years with the department, will retire on June 14, so the two positions will overlap for a week.

Figlia was hired in 2006 and promoted to lieutenant in 2018. He oversaw the rollout of body cameras for officers in 2018 and led a project to review and rewrite department policies beginning in 2017. He also oversees internal investigations.

During a May 13 workshop, Council Member Molly Rhodes asked Figlia if any recommendations still need to be considered from the Police Advisory Board, which was disbanded last year. The nine-member committee was created in 2021 in response to a state mandate for municipalities to review law enforcement policies and procedures.

Figlia said he plans to continue analyzing data, such as statistics collected through traffic enforcement, to improve policing and decide how the department uses its resources.

Mayor Lee Kyriacou said Wednesday that he, Frost and Figlia attended the advisory committee’s final meeting. There was agreement that the work was complete, Kyriacou said, but officials still had two more items to complete: (1) deciding whether Beacon should attend a county-run youth police academy in addition to a city-run youth police academy (which included two participants who later joined the police force), and (2) reviewing the monthly and annual data that will be made public.

The department will focus on its own youth police academy and submit an annual report to the city council detailing reported crimes, the department activity and other statistics of public interest, Figlia said.

Fjord Trail

Kyriacou announced Monday that he is appointing Amber Grant, a city council member without portfolio, and Zack Smith, a Beacon resident, to the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Visitor Data Committee, which is analyzing the expected impacts of the 7.5-mile trail between Cold Spring and Beacon. Grant is digital director and leads a team that uses data analytics to implement large-scale initiatives for a financial institution. Smith is a data scientist.

Fishkill City Councilman Ozzy Albra and Planning Board Chairman Jonathan Kanter will also join the committee.

Five committee members from Cold Spring, Nelsonville and Philipstown issued a statement last month expressing concern about the ongoing data effort. Two weeks later, the mayors of Cold Spring and Nelsonville and the Philipstown supervisor publicly opposed plans to start the trail in Cold Spring.

This prompted Kyriacou and Albra to issue their own statement on April 23, supporting the project and calling for “an objective analysis of the potential impacts” to be carried out, which would then have to be examined by the full data committee. Kyriacou and Albra also called for greater representation of their communities on the committee.

On Monday, Kyriacou urged city residents to voice their support for the trail, and reiterated that he would be happy to see construction begin in Beacon if there were concerns on the other side to consider.