The Village of Pinecrest’s new police chief is a veteran law officer with more than 29 years of police work behind him.

John Hohensee, who will assume the reins of the police department on December 6, comes to the Village from Oakwood, Ohio — a bedroom-community suburb of Dayton with 9,000 residents — where he spent the last nine years as Director of Public Safety.

“I’m extremely pleased that he’s decided to come to work for us,” said Village Manager Peter Lombardi. “He comes highly recommended, he’s well qualified and he’s going to bring a lot of things to the table in our organization that we need to get accomplished.”

Hohensee, who was paid $62,400 a year as Oakwood’s top cop, will pick up a sizeable pay raise with his job change, earning $94,000 a year in Pinecrest, plus an $800-a-month housing allowance. 

Hohensee began his law enforcement career in 1970 as a police officer in Lockport, NY. He moved on to the Buffalo, NY suburb of Kenmore in 1972 and served as a police officer there until 1979, before reaching the rank of lieutenant. He remained with the Kenmore department until 1990, when he became chief of the Wellsville, NY police department, a community of just over 5,000 residents in the southwestern part of the state. He took the Ohio job in 1993 after being tapped as the best of the respondents to a nationwide search.

Hohensee’s accomplishments in Oakwood include the establishment of a bicycle police patrol unit and the creation of a DARE youth drug-prevention program. He has an associate’s degree in police science from Genesee Community College in Batavia, NY; a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from State University College in Buffalo; and he took his master’s degree in community services administration in 1987 from Alfred University in Alfred, NY.

“John was a real favorite of our citizen’s police search committee three years ago,” said Village Mayor Evelyn Greer. “And, I had communication from a number of people who were on that committee who were ecstatic that he might be our choice this time around.

“The thing that stood out with him is that he has had so much experience as a chief of police in communities with difficult problems,” she continued. “First and foremost, we were looking for somebody with that kind of experience.”

Councilman Leslie Bowe, who initially joined with Councilman Barry Blaxburg in opposing Hohensee’s selection, said he was now comfortable with the new chief of police and thought he would bring a lot of positive qualities to Pinecrest.

“He will definitely be an asset to us,” said Bowe, “and he seems like he will be very community spirited. He also brings the EMS/EMT experience, which could be invaluable to us if in the future, should we decide to pursue our own fire and rescue operation.”