top spot in the Big Apple<\/a> field office.<\/p>\nThis week, he\u2019s calling it a career. <\/p>\n
Patrick Freaney, 48, began his career as a state trooper and finished up as head of the Secret Service in New York. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt a strong connection to New York, even from my early days in the service,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cTo conclude my career here as the Special Agent in Charge will always be a source of personal pride. It\u2019s been an honor and a privilege to lead this amazing group of dedicated professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raised in Long Beach, Freaney was the son of an FDNY captain and a New York City school teacher, and went on to attend Siena College, where he was a standout lacrosse player.<\/p>\n
But he dreamed of a career in law enforcement, inspired by his FBI agent grandfather, and joined the state police department in 1998, serving in Farmingdale, Brewster and Wappingers Falls.<\/p>\n
Seeking to join the Secret Service, at first he was rejected.<\/p>\n
Raised in New York, Patrick Feaney wanted to follow his FBI agent grandfather into law enforcement \u2014 and did. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was humbling, but it was also a really good lesson early in life that things will not always go your way,\u201d Freaney said. \u201cIt also taught me about resolve and it obviously worked out when I re-applied.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, he got in, and joined the service on July 21, 2000, starting in the New York Field Office.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 11, 2001, he survived the collapse of 7 World Trade Center during the terror attacks, and joined first-responders in follow-up evacuation and recovery efforts. <\/p>\n
His career then took off, joining the Counter Assault Team in the Special Operations Division in 2005 and moving to the Presidential Protection Division in 2008, where he was part of the unit protecting former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always know the service for its role in protection, but we also have an investigative mission where we focus on financial crimes that significantly impact the public and our financial system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Freaney\u2019s Secret Service career included protecting dignitaries at the United Nations General Assembly. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n
Patrick Freaney was part of the security details protecting former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. AP<\/p>\n
In June 2012 he returned home as assistant to the special agent in charge in the New York office, and in March 2016 was promoted to resident special agent in charge of the White Plains office.<\/p>\n
Two more promotions quickly followed, to assistant special agent in charge of the Electronic Crimes Task Force in 2018, deputy special agent in charge the following year, and, finally, to special agent in charge of the New York office in June 2021. <\/p>\n
Among his duties was protecting the United Nations General Assembly \u2014 a massive job that requires protecting at least 130 foreign dignitaries when they converge on Manhattan.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can never get risk to zero,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s always risk. It\u2019s our job to mitigate it. In a global threat environment, we need to be aware of the issues and take everything into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a 25-year career with the Secret Service, Patrick Freaney will be head of security for Bank of New York. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n
Now, after fulfilling every task his country asked him for, he\u2019s retiring on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank him for everything he has done for the NYPD, for New York City, for the country, and beyond,\u201d said Rebecca Weiner, Deputy Commissioner, Intelligence and Counterterrorism for the NYPD. \u201cPat is the best of the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe navigates the stormiest waters with unflappable competence, treats colleagues as family, and approaches his job with consummate professionalism,\u201d Weiner said. \u201cWe will miss Pat, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freaney will be a senior director of security for BNY, formerly Bank of New York Mellon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Freaney was shot down when he first tried to join the US Secret Service \u2014 but the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":97649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,11744,16778,3755,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,43176,63997,1206,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-97648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-careers","11":"tag-george-w-bush","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-secret-service","20":"tag-state-troopers","21":"tag-united-nations","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-us-news","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114927214940917313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}