Patrick J. Ryder Commissioner of Police Nassau County Police Department

Patrick J. Ryder was named Acting Police Commissioner of the Nassau County Police Department in 2017 and in February 2018 he was named Police Commissioner. He is in his 41^st year in law enforcement, serving the last 38 years with the Nassau County Police Department. Commissioner Ryder began his law enforcement career with the New York City Police Department on January 4, 1984. He joined the NCPD on July 18, 1986 and was assigned to the 3^rd Precinct. In 1989 he was assigned to the Bureau of Special Operations. Following his promotion to Sergeant in 1995, he was assigned to the 5^th Precinct, 8^th Squad, and the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) as the Deputy Commanding Officer. In 2008 he was designated the Commanding Officer of Asset Forfeiture & Intelligence (AFI), where he proactively implemented a number of life-saving programs and initiatives that helped ensure officer and public safety.  These include the NCPD’s Real-Time Intelligence (RTI) system; the R.E.A.C.H. Program; the Civilian Intelligence Analyst Program; the DNA Collection Initiative; and the creation of the Counter-Terrorism Unit, Think Tank, and the Department’s Criminal Intelligence Rapid Response Team (CIRRT). Together these initiatives have brought crime in Nassau County to historic lows, allowing residents to enjoy one of the lowest crime rates in the United States.  In 2022, Nassau County was named the “Safest Community in America” by U.S. News and World Report for the third year in a row.

Commissioner Ryder has a Master’s Degree in Homeland Security and Management from Long Island University. He is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice and Intelligence-Led Policing at Nassau Community College and taught at Dowling College until 2015. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for Criminal Justice at SUNY Farmingdale and has been a Counter-Terrorism Lecturer at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security. Commissioner Ryder is a NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services-Certified Law Enforcement Instructor, a NYS Certified Crime and Intelligence Analyst, a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, and has Top Secret clearance with the FBI’s New York Field Office. He has also been deputized as an IRS Criminal Investigator.  Additionally, he has trained members of law enforcement agencies from Egypt, Tajikistan, Tunisia, South Africa, and Turkey. He and his wife Jill have three children: Liam, Sean, and Meghan.