Southampton Village names Suzanne Hurteau to lead PD in role as East End's first female top cop

Next week a veteran Southampton Village Police Department official will become its first female chief and the East End's first female top cop with a promotion that will solidify the role she's held in an acting capacity for nearly two years.

Suzanne Hurteau, 50, who rose through the department's ranks after joining the force as an officer in 1997, said the accomplishment leaves her "speechless."

"I'm proud of it because it's going to be something that other female officers can look at — these other new female officers that are coming up on the job for the first time. I want to be a good, positive role model," she also told Newsday in an exclusive interview Wednesday evening. "I don't even have words to describe how proud I am."

Hurteau will take her oath as chief at the village's organizational meeting at 1 p.m. Monday, Southampton's board of trustees said in announcement Wednesday.

Mayor-elect William Manger Jr., who defeated incumbent Jesse Warren in the village election earlier this month, said board members believe Hurteau is the best choice for the position.

Manger said results of a March 25 chief's exam, administered by the Suffolk County Department of Human Resources, Personnel and Civil Service, came back this week and Hurteau posted the top score.

“We really think we got the best candidate for the job,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

The incoming chief will lead a department of 28 officers.

Hurteau was first named acting chief when former Chief Thomas Cummings, who collected a $248,342 salary in 2020, retired in September 2021.

Then the village board, in a 4-1 vote at a Dec. 12 special meeting, appointed Suffolk County Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Carter as the next chief. But the provisional hire didn’t last long after Carter backed out just more than a month later.

Warren had cast the lone dissenting vote at the special meeting and the lack of support from the mayor spurred Carter to change his mind.

Warren had cited the Civil Service exam and the fact that Carter hadn't yet taken it as the reason for his opposition, along with the Suffolk police official's lack of ties to the local community.

Hurteau joined the force in August 1997 before steadily climbing the ranks from police officer to detective, and then from sergeant to lieutenant before another promotion in December. The board voted then to promote her to captain to serve under Carter while she already was acting police chief.

"I'm very, very elated to put this chapter of the department's history to bed," Hurteau said of the leadership uncertainty.

Hurteau's East End roots date back to her childhood when her parents owned a summer home in the area, she said. Her family moved to the Hamptons full-time when she was about 11 or 12, she said, before she later graduated from Southampton High School.

In 1995, she graduated from LIU Post with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice/law enforcement administration.

Hurteau, who is married to wife Ashley Hurteau, said she had "really good mentors" as she reflected on her journey through the department's ranks.

"And I was a worker," she said. "I worked hard for everything I got, including this position. Nothing was ever handed to me. I felt when I was put in the acting chief's position that maybe this was an audition to see how I would do." 

The village hasn't finalized Hurteau's contract and salary yet, according to Southampton officials.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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