A Fabiano Calls It Quits

Last Thursday, Sgt. Paul Fabiano walked out of Sag Harbor Village police headquarters for the final time to a small procession including a bagpiper, fellow officers, and community members he has touched during his 27 years on the job.

One noticeable absenttee was his brother Tom, who, as the chief of the department, was his boss. Chief Fabiano was ill, but his 19-year-old daughter, Siena Remkus-Fabiano, was there in his place, and when Sergeant Fabiano turned and saw his niece, “that’s when I lost it,” he said of his emotions.

Although the two brothers had their fair share of squabbles, Sergeant Fabiano said he has always looked up to his brother, and even ended up in law enforcement in part because of him.

A 1984 graduate of Pierson High School in Sag Harbor (he grew up just outside the village), Sergeant Fabiano had dreams of becoming a marine biologist but quickly realized he didn’t excel in chemistry and math. He toyed with the idea of joining the military but ultimately decided to pursue a career like that of his brother, 11 years his senior.

After he studied criminal justice briefly at Clinton Community College in Plattsburgh, N.Y., a classmate’s father, Ted Stafford, a warrant officer for the Southampton Town police, invited him to be a traffic control officer in the summer of 1985. At 19 years old, he saw an opportunity to go to the Suffolk County Police Academy and graduated the following spring. The town police hired him as a part-timer, and after two seasons he left to work part time for the Sag Harbor Village police.

He never did go back to college. “I kind of regret it now,” he said. “The pay was good, and I had benefits, and at the time I was engaged — I was married at 21 years old,” he said, adding that it continues to be a dream to get his degree.

In October 1989, the village, where his brother was already a detective, hired him full time. He worked his way up the ranks, becoming a detective after his brother was made chief in early 2000. After four or five years as a detective, he moved up to sergeant. Though he had hopes of making lieutenant, that position on the small force was never filled after the retirement of Lt. Thomas X. Mackey in 2009. Sergeants Fabiano and Thomas Pagano have shared the responsibilities of the department’s executive officer since then.

Asked what he is most proud of, he recalled a time when he and Jon Schoen, also now retired, were flagged down on Main Street by the grandparents of a 5-year-old who had “burned the soles of her feet off” when she stepped barefoot onto the Shelter Island ferry. He placed gel packs on her feet and immediately called for a medevac helicopter, even before calling for an ambulance.

A week or two later, he heard from physicians at Stony Brook University Hospital who said the little girl would have lost the tissue on her feet had it not been for his quick thinking to send her straight to the burn center there. A year later, he heard from her parents that she was walking without assistance.

“It’s things like that, just making a difference,” Sergeant Fabiano said.

At 48, he decided it was time to spend more time with his family, including his wife, Linda Fabiano, a head dispatcher for the Southampton Town police, and his two children, Melissa, a chef, and Christianna, who is in her second year of nursing school. “All these years I’ve missed with my family,” he said. “Twenty-seven years of working rotating shifts, it started to wear on me.” He has already begun working as a consultant for Scan Security.

While he won’t miss the hours, Sergeant Fabiano said he would miss his colleagues and being a part of the Emergency Services Unit, made up of officers from across the South Fork. “I couldn’t work with a better bunch of guys — everybody brings something to the table.”

“If I had to do it over again, I would most likely do it over again,” he said. “I love my community and the people in it. It was a pleasure to work for them.”

There’s not much he would change — not even working under his brother. “Trust me, we butt heads. At the end of the day, we’re all on the same team. We know what needs to get accomplished. We have a different dynamic of what the normal cops and bosses have. He held me to a higher standard than the other guys, but it made me a better person for it.”

“I’m glad he’s gone,” Chief Fabiano joked without skipping a beat when asked to comment on his brother’s retirement. “No, I’m sad he’s gone. He did a lot of things around here. It’s a loss,” he said, adding that his younger brother was in the more difficult position of the two. “I think I was harder on him than anybody. Was it difficult? Sometimes, yes. But he was always there for me, and that I will never, ever forget.”