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Cop’s career, culturego marching in step

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Harry Keaney

Of the hundreds of thousands of people who will line Fifth Avenue for this year’s 238th St. Patrick’s Day Parade, as well as millions others around the world who will catch TV glimpses of it, none will be as sharp an observer as John Scanlon.

Having recently been promoted to chief of patrol in the New York Police Department, Scanlon will be the man in overall charge of the city’s massive police operation for the day. That involves about 1,200 officers along the line of march, patrol officers from the various borough precincts, the traffic control division, which includes motorcycle and mounted police, all the uniformed forces, and special operations units such as those on boats an helicopters.

As big as the job is, its essence is crowd control and traffic management. "My biggest concern is that nothing takes place to endanger the public," Scanlon said. "Everything that’s done responsibly is acceptable."

During his 35 years in the NYPD, he has worked on or marched in almost all the St. Patrick’s Day parades. In fact, the only occasion he can immediately recall not having been involved was just after his eldest daughter was born, on March 15, 1970. "But we called her Patricia," he said. His other daughter, Christine, is 24.

Next Wednesday, precisely at 11 a.m., at 44th Street on Fifth Avenue, he will blow the whistle that will set the parade on its course. He will then march with the NYPD Emerald Society.

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"The sons of Ireland and their sons and daughters will be on the queen of avenues celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with the greatest parade in New York City," Scanlon said. "It gives you a certain feeling of affinity, of pride, and you thank your maker for where you are. Of all the parades I saw as a youngster on the sidelines, this one is very special.

"It’s great to see all those people on the sidewalks, especially the little ones under the barriers. All New York responds to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. I’d defy anyone to have a better feeling than to be on Fifth Avenue marching behind the skirl of the pipes. You could march to the North Pole behind them."

Scanlon was born Nov. 1, 1939 in New York City. His father, Michael, came from Roscommon and his mother, Christine Costello, was from Mayo. Chief Scanlon’s wife is Mary Dudgeon; her father came from Tyrone and mother, Helen Farrell, from New York.

Scanlon himself grew up in the Bronx and, after attending St. Nicholas of Tollentine grammar and high schools, served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1963. "I guess I was looking for a little excitement, and they didn’t let me down," he said. "I was stationed on both coasts and with the Third Marine Division on Okinawa."

On Oct. 14, 1963, he joined the NYPD as a patrolman in the 48th Precinct in the Bronx. In 1976, he graduated under the G.I. Bill from New York Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science. He is also a 1992 graduate of the Police Management Institute at Columbia University.

As he moved up through the ranks, he spent most of his time in the Bronx, until 1991, when he was appointed deputy inspector in the office of the chief of patrol in the NYPD’s headquarters at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. In 1996, he was designated commander of patrol borough in the Bronx and, last summer, was tapped by Police Commissioner Howard Safir for the job as chief of patrol.

Scanlon has spent 31 of his 35 years of service on patrol. "I was always out there with the men and women in uniform who do the job for you every day," he said. "You see them on the streets and in the backyards. They are the real unsung heroes."

When John Scanlon puts on his uniform early Wednesday morning, he’ll be getting ready not only for another day on the job, but also for an occasion on which career and culture will be proudly on parade.

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