Steven Skrynecki, Southampton police chief and former Nassau chief, dies at 69

Steven Skrynecki, who served as the Nassau County Police Department's highest ranking uniformed officer and the public face of many high-profile crime investigations, before becoming the Southampton Town police chief, died at his home in Hicksville Thursday, family and former colleagues said.

Skrynecki, 69, had been sick with myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of cancer, for the past seven months, according to his son, Scott Skrynecki, who serves as a detective sergeant in Nassau's Third Squad.

"While my father obviously devoted his whole career to public service, his devotion to his family and his friends was 10 times as strong," Scott Skrynecki said Thursday.

Steven Skrynecki, who also has a home in Sag Harbor, joined the Nassau Police Department in 1974 as a patrol officer. During a 42-year career with the department, he would oversee robbery, vice, narcotics, internal affairs and detective units before becoming chief of the department, the highest uniformed rank under the commissioner.

"He was the most detailed guy I've ever met when it came to an investigation," said Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, who served under Skrynecki for many years. "Always making sure that the victims came first. … He was fair and tough. Always put this department first."

While serving as department chief, Skrynecki revamped Nassau's use-of-force policy, turned around an increase in home and business burglaries, brought an active-shooter alert system to county schools and trained thousands of volunteer firefighters how to respond to mass casualty incidents and terror attacks.

Skrynecki also often spoke to reporters in news conferences and interviews about many of the department's highest-profile crime probes. And he was a founding member of the Nassau County Police Pipe Band, where his son currently performs.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called Skrynecki a "consummate law enforcement professional who served Nassau County with great distinction. … The region has lost a great leader and I have lost a dear friend.”

In 2017, Skrynecki left one of the nation's largest suburban police departments to take over the 100-member Southampton force.

In his time as police chief, Skrynecki unveiled plans for a departmentwide bodycam program, sought to increase diversity among the ranks and issued a new policy directing officers to formally notify him in writing of secondary off-duty employment. 

"Chief Skrynecki was one of the finest individuals I have ever known," said Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. "He led a distinguished career in law enforcement which included serving as our police chief for six years. Chief Skrynecki always made public safety his highest priority. Southampton Town is forever grateful for his service.”

Steven Skrynecki's first wife, Jean, died in 1980 and for many years he raised Scott as a single father. Steven Skrynecki married his second wife, Patricia, and they had a child, Kathryn Vaccaro, before divorcing. For the past 25 years, he shared time with Marianne Hassan, his significant other. Together they helped raise her son, Kevin Hassan.

"My father was incredibly tender, loving, giving and nurturing to everybody in his family," Scott Skrynecki said. "And I think he brought that to his public service in a way that made him even greater as a police officer and a leader."

Capt. James Kiernan will assume Skrynecki's duties in Southampton on an interim basis, according to town police spokeswoman Susan Ralph.

With Candice Ferrette