Correction: In the Oct. 23 edition of Mahopac News, we mistakenly conflated background informaiton for Brian Hess and Larry Burke.
Burke, not Hess, has spent 38 years in law enforcement, including 13 in Putnam County. Hess has spent over two decades in law enforcement, serving as a Lieutenant with the Westchester County Police and founding the Westchester-Putnam Real Time Crime Center (RTC).
We regret the error.
Putnam County voters will get to decide who will lead their Sheriff’s Office when they go to the polls next month.
Two candidates—acting Sheriff Brian Hess and Larry Burke, the former officer-in-charge for the Cold Spring Police Department—will face off for the county’s top law enforcement position following the death of Sheriff Kevin McConville in August.
Acting Sheriff Brian Hess has spent over two decades in law enforcement, serving as a Lieutenant with the Westchester County Police and founding the Westchester-Putnam Real Time Crime Center (RTC). He replaced McConville on the ballot as the Republican and Conservative parties’ nominee. He said McConville’s trust in his abilities inspired his continued commitment to building a modern, transparent, and community-focused Sheriff’s Office.
“Sheriff McConville and I worked closely together during my time with the Westchester County Police, and I always had deep professional respect for his leadership and vision,” Hess said. “His trust and confidence in my abilities inspired me to continue his mission of building a modern, transparent, and community-focused Sheriff’s Office.”
Before taking on the sheriff’s role, Hess spent more than two decades in law enforcement, serving as a lieutenant with the Westchester County Police and founding the Westchester-Putnam Real Time Crime Center, a regional intelligence hub supporting more than 50 local, state, and federal partners. The center became a model for cooperation and shared intelligence, helping to solve major crimes and improve officer safety across jurisdictions.
Hess said interagency collaboration remains a top priority.
“While the disbanding of the former Carmel, Kent, and Sheriff’s emergency response team created challenges, cooperation among our county’s law enforcement agencies is stronger today than it has been in years,” he said. “We have held several productive meetings and are actively discussing the creation of a new, more unified multi-agency team. These partnerships are essential to protecting our communities and ensuring our agencies work together effectively.”
Balancing public safety with fiscal responsibility, he said, is among the department’s greatest challenges. Staffing, training, and overtime remain costly, but Hess said his administration is reviewing deployments, expanding partnerships, and leveraging technology to ensure taxpayer dollars deliver measurable results.
“Modern law enforcement requires transparency and consistent communication with the public,” Hess said. “We have expanded our social media presence so residents can see how their tax dollars are being used and what the Sheriff’s Office is doing in their neighborhoods. By being open and receptive to public input, we continue to build trust and strengthen our relationship with the community.”
Hess also emphasized the importance of training deputies to respond to modern challenges, including mental health crises, substance abuse, and school safety. His goal, he said, is to maintain a professional, well-trained department aligned with state accreditation standards.
“Putnam County residents deserve a sheriff with both vision and experience,” he said. “I have served on the ground and at the command level, building systems that make our region safer. My goal is to modernize the Sheriff’s Office while preserving the professionalism, integrity, and service that define Putnam County.”
Larry Burke has spent 38 years in law enforcement, including 13 in Putnam County. Burke and his wife were drawn to Putnam County more than two decades ago for its strong sense of community and safety. Now, he hopes to give back by bringing his decades of law enforcement experience to the county’s top law enforcement position as sheriff.
Burke, who is running as an independent on the Serve & Protect Party line, began his career with the NYPD, where he served as a community officer in one of the city’s most underserved areas. Those early experiences, he said, showed him the power of community policing—when officers know their residents, trust is built, and crime drops. He later joined the Detective Bureau’s Major Case Narcotics Squad before retiring after 26 years of service.
Since retiring, Burke has continued to serve locally for the past 13 years as a captain with the North Highlands Fire Department and as a commanding officer of the Cold Spring Police Department.
“For seven years, as the commanding officer I managed Cold Spring’s budget, manpower, and grant funding—making every dollar count,” he said. “We modernized our systems, updated our fleet, and became the first part-time department in New York State to implement body cameras.”
Now serving as assistant director of security for Turner Construction, Burke oversees a national budget larger than that of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and is responsible for the safety of more than 13,000 employees. He said that same accountability and efficiency are what he would bring to the Sheriff’s Office.
Burke said his priorities include restoring cooperation among local police departments, rebuilding morale, hiring qualified and bilingual officers, and expanding partnerships with local organizations to address mental health and substance abuse issues.
“Staffing and morale are also major challenges. I will prioritize hiring qualified, community-minded, and bilingual officers. On mental health and substance abuse, I’ll partner with local organizations—such as The Hub in Cold Spring—to connect people to help rather than handcuffs,” he said.
He also plans to expand the use of body cameras, license plate readers, and continuous training to strengthen transparency and accountability.
“I’m running as an independent because politics has no place in public safety. My only allegiance is to the residents of Putnam County—to restoring pride, professionalism, and integrity in every deputy’s badge,” he said. “Together, we can build a Sheriff’s Office that our communities trust, our officers are proud to serve, and our children can look up to.”
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