Rodney Harrison, the former Suffolk Police Commissioner who resigned shortly after Ed Romaine won the 2023 Suffolk County Executive election, has found a new career in the private sector.
Harrison now works for Petrone Risk LLC, a private security firm which is based in Uniondale, as senior managing director and chief strategy officer.
Harrison spent 32 years in law enforcement, including thirty years in the New York City Police Department from 1991 to 2021, where he rose through the ranks and eventually spent nine months as chief. He was then appointed as Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner by former County Executive Steve Bellone, where he served for two years. He was Suffolk’s first African-American police commissioner.
Though Romaine chose to retain some of Bellone’s staff, Harrison had said he wanted Romaine to be able to choose his own police commissioner.
Harrison, along with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, is credited with the work of the Gilgo Beach Task Force, which was formed in 2022 and eventually arrested Rex Heuermann, who has been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Megan Waterman.
There are up to six other murder victims on Gilgo Beach for which Heuermann has not been charged, but the investigation is continuing. In the waning months of his tenure, Harrison appeared to have an interest in investigating the other murders himself, most notably when he held a press conference with Miller Place-attorney John Ray which cited affidavits allegedly linking Heuermann to “Fire Island Jane Doe” Karen Vergata and Shannan Gilbert.
No one has been charged in either of their deaths.
Related Story: Was Fire Island Jane Doe Karen Vergata Last Seen at Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Suspect Rex Heuermann’s House?
Related Story: Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison Announces Resignation
