A Force of Its Own

With the naming of A.J. McGuire to lead the Sag Harbor Police Department, the village’s board of trustees has effectively put to an end to any question about the force’s future. It was not all that long ago that some of the elected officials in the Municipal Building questioned whether Sag Harbor should continue to have its own police at all. 

Lieutenant McGuire is a well-regarded member of the East Hampton Town Police Department and, though he will be missed, he is parting on good terms with his colleagues. East Hampton’s loss is Sag Harbor’s gain. It is expected that a working relationship between the departments will continue under Mr. McGuire’s leadership. More important is that Sag Harbor will have its own, homegrown force, especially in the summer months when resident and visitor numbers soar. By hindsight, the notion that Sag Harbor’s peak-season policing could have been equally well managed by patrols from one of the neighboring departments seems imprudent. 

As the South Fork’s most densely populated community for part of the year — a de facto urban area — Sag Harbor needs its own police force. Much praise is due the village board for recognizing this, and settling on someone who is by all accounts able to lead it.