NEW HAVEN — Vermont State Police Lt. Michael Manley has been appointed the new commander of the VSP’s Addison County barracks in New Haven. Manley, 35, succeeds Lt. Gary Genova, who retired last month after having served two-and-a-half years as leader of the state police’s force in the county.
Manley, a native of the Utica, N.Y., area, joined the VSP in 2000, soon after graduating from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.
“I’d always wanted to be a police officer, ever since I was a kid,” Manley said during an interview on Tuesday.
He successfully tested for the VSP and was officially hired on July 31, 2000, starting his career as a trooper at the Middlesex barracks. He transferred to the VSP’s Bradford barracks in 2005, earning the rank of sergeant in 2008. Manley was assigned to the state police’s arson division as a detective in 2011, serving in that capacity almost two years. He officially took the helm of the VSP’s New Haven barracks on Oct. 20. He presides over a workforce that, when fully staffed, includes 12 troopers, three sergeants and two administrative workers. The New Haven barracks currently has 10 troopers, and Manley hopes to fill the two vacancies with some candidates from the Vermont State Police Academy’s graduating class this coming January.
While Manley has never worked in Addison County, he has become familiar with the territory as commander of the VSP’s Tactical Services Unit. It’s a 19-person unit through which the VSP assists troopers and other law enforcement agencies at major crime incidents throughout the state.
“We are well trained and well-equipped,” he said proudly of the tactical unit. “We get a lot of support through the chain of command.”
Manley expects to be stationed in New Haven for quite a while. He, his wife and their twin children are in the process of moving to the Addison County area. It’s a region that places him a little closer to some of his family members in upstate New York.
“I love it,” he said of his new job. “Everyone has been very accommodating to me, greeting me. It has been a good transition for me.”
He is of course still getting adjusted to the new territory and job. He has been brought up to speed on some of the law enforcement priorities in the Addison County area.
“I came in knowing there were a lot of burglaries this way,” he said, alluding to a spate of break-ins in the past year. State police this past summer arrested Raymond Ritchie, 37, of Addison, whom they charged with committing many of those crimes.
“We will keep on doing solid investigative work when those (burglary reports) come in,” Manley said.
In his limited spare time, Manley enjoys woodworking, welding and fishing. He vowed to maintain a leadership style that has served him well during his career.
“Straightforward and fair,” he said in describing the way he deals with people.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].