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10/07/2020 08:30 AMAfter 25 years on the force, North Branford Police Sergeant David Madoule retired on Friday, Oct. 2—but he only took the weekend off. On Monday, Oct. 5, Dave started his new community safety role, heading up school security for North Branford Public Schools (NBPS) and going on duty at North Branford High School (NBHS).
“I’m changing the job, but I already know all of the players,” says Dave, a North Branford resident.
As a member of North Branford Police Department (NBPD), Dave says his favorite part of his job has always been interacting with community members.
“I’m a service-oriented kind of guy, so I like the service end of it. I like the small-town atmosphere,” he says.
Dave says he’s looking forward to being involved with his town’s school system and working among NBHS students and staff.
“Now, instead of sitting in [a patrol] car by myself, I’ll be walking around that school seeing everybody, so I’m really pumped about that,” he says.
NBPS established one of the state’s first armed school security details after the Dec. 14, 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when a single shooter claimed 26 lives, including 20 children and six adults.
“I actually worked a shift in Sandy Hook after the shooting,” says Dave, noting NBPD sent him with a patrol car help cover Newtown police officers during the overwhelming days that followed the school shooting.
Dave first joined NBPD in 1995, after serving two years as a Woodbridge police officer. He was an NBPD patrol officer for five years and promoted to sergeant in 2001, serving the department as a patrol supervisor during the rest of his career.
Dave became a sergeant right after 9/11. Serving as a police officer during the time of the terrorist attacks on this country, “I was so proud of all the brothers and sisters that went down to New York City,” says Dave. “We had a couple from our Police Department and fire department go down and put some time in there. It was definitely a proud time to be an officer. People had a different opinion as opposed to today. It’s pretty bitter to watch the news today and be a police officer.”
That being said, Dave says NBPD greatly appreciates the support this community shows the department, and he’ll miss being a member of the team.
Speaking of changing jobs, Dave didn’t start out as a young adult seeking a career in law enforcement. He credits his older brother, Robert, with inspiring him to get into policing.
“I worked for Sikorsky Aircraft for 15 years, and my older brother was a detective in Milford. He definitely inspired me. I always thought it was cool,” says Dave, who was a machinist by trade and rose to become lead man in the machine shop.
“So here I am 15 years into a job at Sikorksy’s, and a few of us in my department decided we were going to go and take this police test. So we went and took the police test, and I ultimately got hired with Woodbridge,” says Dave.
As fate would have it, Woodbridge sent Dave to a law enforcement symposium in New Haven, where two NBPD police detectives recognized him as a North Branford resident and encouraged him to apply for an open spot on the NBPD roster. Dave did, and he was hired.
A Milford native, Dave and his wife, Laurie, are celebrating their 34th anniversary this month. They found a home they loved in North Branford where they have raised their three children, twin girls Kirsten and Lauren, and son Michael, 20. Their children all went through NPBS as students.
“I was a police officer here before they were born. I’ve been here 25 years and 2 months and my twins are going to be 23,” says Dave, adding that “over the years, you see a little town grow up a little, but it’s been the same, as far as police work, for me.”
He says his final months on the job at NBPD will be remembered for the extra effort police, fire, emergency services, and all front line essential workers have taken on to continue to provide service during a deadly virus pandemic.
“COVID changed everything for everybody. It was a big change,” says Dave.
On Oct. 2, Dave was recognized by NBPD Chief Kevin Halloran, Deputy Chief James Lovelace, members of the department, family, and friends during a socially distanced retirement ceremony held at NBPD. The thought of the gathering put a grateful Dave in mind of another ceremony, and people he has known, while at NBPD.
“When I got hired here, we had a swearing-in ceremony. And when I got sworn in 25 years ago as a police officer, there was another guy that was a police officer that got sworn in as a sergeant, and that was Chris Manner,” says Dave.
Dave says he’s usually a man of few words, so having to speak recently in front of TV news cameras following NBPD and the community’s Sept. 24 heartfelt tribute to the late Sgt. Manner, who retired from NBPD in 2011, “busted me up.”
Speaking to Zip06/The Sound about what he might say to his co-workers when signing off as car 301 for the last time over the radio on Oct. 2, there’s a catch in his voice as Dave says, “all that I was planning to say, if I have to say anything, was, ‘Signing off for the last time...thanks for the ride.’”