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Public Safety Commissioner Wayne E. Bennett was appointed by Mayor Brian U. Stratton as the City of Schenectady’s Public Safety Commissioner on May 07, 2007. Commissioner Bennett served as the Superintendent of the New York State Police from July 2003 until his retirement in early 2007.
Prior to his appointment as Superintendent, he served as the First Deputy Superintendant, second in command of the New York State Police, since April of 1984.
Commissioner Bennett previously served as Lieutenant Colonel – Assistant Deputy Superintendant in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, overseeing the operations of 900 members of that unit. In that capacity, he oversaw the Joel Rifkin serial murder investigation, as well as the investigation into the disappearance of Sara Anne Wood and the related Louis Lent task force operations in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
From 1992 to 1993 he served as Lieutenant Colonel – Assistant Deputy Superintendant in charge of the Division’s 3,100 member Uniform Force.
Commissioner Bennett has held all but three titles in the New York State Police Uniform Force and Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He began his career with the New York State Police in 1968 as a Trooper then rose steadily through the ranks to Investigator (1973), Sergeant (1974), Zone Sergeant (1978), Lieutenant (1982) and Captain (1985) and has served throughout New York State as well as in New York City with the DEA Joint Drug Task Force.
In 1987, he was promoted to Major and Troop Commander of State Police personnel in the ten-county area of Troop G, encompassing the Capital District and southern Adirondacks. This was followed in 1990 by his promotion to Staff Inspector in the Employee Relations Unit at Division Headquarters in Albany, NY.
Commissioner Bennett holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany, and associates Degree in Banking, Insurance and Real Estate from Hudson Valley Community College.
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