FULTON – Michael Curtis was originally studying to be a teacher, while Christian Dempsey started out as a driver manager/dispatcher for a trucking company.
Eventually, serving in law enforcement became their common goal, and recently they rose to the ranks of chief and deputy chief respectively of the Fulton Police Department.
“Chief Curtis has served the Fulton Police Department for many years. He has a drive for excellence, a calm yet effective demeanor and a skillset that excels in leadership, public safety and community engagement,” said Mayor Deana Michaels. “His leadership will prove to be an asset as he moves the department and the city forward in various areas. And Deputy Chief Dempsey, with his years of service, experience as an SRO officer, and leadership within the force make him a great person to assume that role and lead the team with Chief Curtis.”
“I would like to congratulate Chief Curtis on his recent promotion,” said Fulton Common Council President Audrey Avery. “I believe that he will be a wonderful asset to our police force as the new chief. After many years of serving our community in the police department he brings so much knowledge of being a leader alongside his force. I look forward to working with him. Congratulations, also, to our new Deputy Police Chief Dempsey who has been such a wonderful addition to our police force for many years. I look forward to working with him.”
Chief Curtis, who served as deputy chief from January 2020 to the present, was born and raised in Fulton, and has served in the police department for 21 years.
He said he was inspired by a good friend, Fulton police officer Mike Batstone, to seek a career in law enforcement.
“As chief, I want to concentrate on greater community involvement by our officers and by our department,” Curtis said. “I’d like to see greater interaction with our citizens and a stronger presence at events. Our bike patrol officers, for example, have been at the Big Truck Day and Tunes In June, among other events. We want to expand that involvement and have our public see us in this context.”
During the course of his career, Curtis also served as a bike patrol officer.
Curtis said he is adding drone capabilities as a shared service with the Fulton Fire Department, and several officers are training to be drone pilots to assist with surveillance and searches.
“We used drone surveillance at major intersections during this year’s Memorial Day Salute parade,” Curtis said. “All the images were live-streamed to a laptop as well as our department front desk, which made it much easier to cover the parade route with fewer officers, but still have the ability to respond quickly.”
Curtis also wants to add a second team to the department’s K-9 program and expand the bike patrol unit by recruiting more officers.
“It costs about $15,000 to obtain a dog for training,” Curtis said. “We are researching grant funding to make this happen.”
In addition to having served as deputy chief, Curtis was an investigator with the department for 13 years, and has specialized training as a polygraph examiner, hard evidence custodian and technician, field officer training, crisis/hostage negotiator, and child forensic interviewing.
He has also been honored as Police Officer of the Year, received the Exceptional Duty and Honorable Service awards, and was recognized by the United Way of Greater Oswego County. Curtis and his wife live in Fulton with their two sons and a daughter.
Deputy Chief Dempsey was also born and raised in Fulton. He’ll have 17 years with the Fulton force in January, and during his service, he has also served as a bicycle patrol officer, a school resource officer (SRO), patrol sergeant, lieutenant, and patrol commander/first lieutenant before being promoted to deputy chief.
He has been the department’s lead firearms instructor since 2020 and is currently managing the department’s changeover from .45 caliber to 9mm pistols.
If an officer is away from the job for a period of time due to injury or personal reasons, they have to re-qualify in their proficiency with their firearm. Dempsey administers the re-qualification, as well as scheduling firearms training and maintaining the budget.
“The best part of being a police officer in Fulton, where I grew up, is being a part of my community where you’re helping people and working every day to make it a better place to live,” Dempsey said.
As deputy chief, he wants to work to enable the department to add more specialized units like a tactical team, add more traffic details, and return to what he described as “quality of life” details. In this detail, officers dress in civilian clothes and circulate in problem areas where they can discreetly make arrests for disorderly conduct, open container violations, or other issues.
As with Chief Curtis, Dempsey is encouraged and excited about what drones can bring to increasing the department’s capability and effectiveness, and they are both engaged in active efforts to recruit more officers so that the department can continue to grow its services.
He has also received specialized training in multiple areas. Among these are Initial Response to Active Shooters, Law Enforcement Active Shooter Emergency Response, and Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention. He was named Police Officer of the Year, has twice received a Mayoral Commendation for service, five Certificates of Commendation, two Honorable Service awards, and an Exceptional Duty award.
Deputy Chief Dempsey resides locally with his wife and daughter.
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