BIOGRAPHY OF HARTFORD CHIEF PATRICK J. HARNETT
 

Patrick J. Harnett was appointed Chief of the Hartford Police Department by Mayor Eddie A. Perez on Monday, June 21, 2004.  He retired as Hartford Chief of Police on July 12, 2006. 

Chief Harnett began his police career in 1965 when he joined the New York City Transit Police.  Two years later he joined the New York City Police Department where he served for over thirty years.

Starting as a patrol officer in NYPD in 1968, Chief Harnett was awarded a field promotion to detective in 1971 for his role in the arrest of radicals responsible for the machine gun ambush of two uniform police officers.  He spent the next ten years in the Bronx working as a detective in Robbery and Homicide units.

Chief Harnett was promoted to sergeant in 1981 and worked his way up through the ranks with increasing levels of responsibility including commanding the Major Case Squad, the Forty Third Precinct in the Bronx and the Emergency Service Unit. 

In 1995 he was promoted to Assistant Chief in charge of NYPD’s Narcotics Division.  Over the next three years he led an expansion of the Narcotics Division that more than doubled it in size from sixteen hundred, to over thirty-two hundred investigators.  Chief Harnett introduced a system of “neighborhood based “ and “gang focused” narcotics enforcement that played a significant role in the historic reduction in crime that occurred during that time period. 

In 1998 he was promoted to Chief of the NYPD's Transportation Bureau.  As head of that bureau, he was responsible for managing over six thousand police officers and traffic agents in the Transit and Traffic Divisions.  

In July of 1998 Chief Harnett left NYPD to become the First Deputy Director of the New York/New Jersey High HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), a federal program created to fund effective narcotics strategies involving cooperative efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement officers.

In 2000, Chief Harnett became a security consultant working with William Bratton, the former NYPD Commissioner, working in police departments in Trenton, New Jersey, Miami, Los Angeles, Fortaleza, Brazil and Caracas, Venezuela.  He focused on implementation of specific law enforcement action plans and strategies.  He also implemented COMPSTAT programs (a leadership and accountability management program developed in NYPD) that increased effectiveness by clarifying lines of communication, authority and accountability.

Chief Harnett holds a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the State University of New York (SUNY) and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Iona College.  He is a graduate of the Police Management Institute of Columbia University, the Dignitary Protection Seminar of the United States Secret Service, the Criminal Investigation Course of the NYPD, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Chief Harnett served with the United States Marine Corps Reserve receiving an Honorable Discharge.  

Website Contact: email

HPD Home