{"id":358987,"date":"2026-09-28T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358987\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T17:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T17:38:12","slug":"nys-courts-chief-of-department-reflects-on-his-42-year-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358987\/","title":{"rendered":"NYS Courts chief of department reflects on his 42-year career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>MANHATTAN \u2014 Michael Magliano holds the highest uniformed rank in the Unified Court System: chief of department. Despite his rank, Magliano is adamant that he be recognized simply as a New York State court officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go out in social settings and people ask, \u2018What do you do for a living?\u2019 I don\u2019t tell them I\u2019m a chief,\u201d Magliano said. \u201cI always tell people that while the title of chief is what I am and represents the work I love doing, it\u2019s not who I am. My mother didn\u2019t name me chief when I came out of the womb; she named me Michael.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>Michael Magliano was appointed Chief of Department in December 2016. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Magliano\u2019s modesty is striking. \u201cIt must be a slow news day if you are interviewing me,\u201d he quipped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Magliano\u2019s tenure in the UCS began in November 1983. He worked his way up the ranks to sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, commanding officer of the Kings County Supreme Court\u2019s criminal division, and in December 2016, chief of citywide operations.<\/p>\n

Plugged in and focused<\/p>\n

As chief of department, Magliano manages the UCS Department of Public Safety, which oversees delivering security services to courts throughout the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DPS develops guidelines, policies, and procedures for ensuring safety throughout the NYS Court System, and oversees emergency preparedness planning for each location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DPS also manages judicial threats, assists with security planning for new and existing court facilities, develops standards and policies for the Court Officers Academy and Court Officers\u2019 Rules and Procedures Manual, and serves as a liaison between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chief<\/a>Chief Michael Magliano holds the highest uniformed rank in the Unified Court System. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

In addition, DPS supports more than 4,100 court officers and gives them the tools to do their jobs effectively. This includes addressing the courts\u2019 equipment needs, such as X-ray machines, radios and ballistic vests, and making sure everyone\u2019s training is up to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo two days are alike,\u201d Magliano said. \u201cYou\u2019re on call 24\/7. You receive probably 400 emails a day from across the state. Everything from a facility issue, to a pipe breaking in one of the older buildings, to a threat in another county, to equipment failures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also like a conduit, because I report to our judicial leadership and have to make sure that what I know and see they know as well,\u201d Magliano continued. \u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that this judicial leadership team is such an amazing group of people who are so plugged in and focused. They make sure that we have enough officers in place, as well as the funding we need for equipment and the like. They are really an incredibly supportive group.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Carroll Gardens local<\/p>\n

Magliano was born in Carroll Gardens.\u00a0 \u201cI was fortunate to be raised in a great area in a great borough,\u201d he said. \u201cI think a lot of what I learned growing up, not just in my home but in my neighborhood, shaped me to be the person I am today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Magliano\u2019s father served in World War II and passed away when he was only six. \u201cI was raised by my mother,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was my guide, my rock and my moral compass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

His interest in the court system began while attending St. Francis College, inspired by a criminal justice professor who was also a court officer. \u201cI had my eyes on finance as a profession, but one day, this professor handed out the applications for the New York State Court Officer test,\u201d Magliano said. \u201cI took it, just as a stopgap, and didn\u2019t think much about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI later went to work for an international bank for about a year, which I didn\u2019t care for too much, and as fate would have it, I ultimately got called by the New York State Courts,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the years, Magliano worked in three different court facilities in Brooklyn: 120 Schermerhorn St., 360 Adams St. and 320 Jay St. \u201cEach spot was unique in its own way, but it was the people that I remember the most,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were absolutely amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Security challenges\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, part of Magliano\u2019s role is protecting judges, prosecutors, court officers and others from security threats. \u201cThreats as a whole, you\u2019ll see it more across the whole country,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany decades ago, when a litigant or a defendant wanted to make a threat, it would have to be via snail mail or from a pay phone. Now, the internet has given these individuals a bigger forum,\u201d Magliano said.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>From left: Officer Shanelle Rivera, Lt. Mark Hirschman, Chief Michael Magliano, Lt. Joseph Dalton, Capt. Frank Zaloga and Sgt. Robert Hoffman. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a judicial threat unit, and we constantly scour social media and try to be there for all our judges and court personnel across the state,\u201d Magliano continued. \u201cThe threat unit does a deep dive and analyzes all threats. We don\u2019t minimize anything. Everything\u2019s important until it\u2019s fleshed out that it\u2019s safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Magliano said technology has also become a central focus of court security. \u201cWe stay on the cutting edge of the equipment we provide our uniformed personnel,\u201d he said. \u201cWe replace equipment regularly and try to purchase the latest technology that\u2019s out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Magliano, 66, said that while he is still firing on all cylinders professionally, \u201cwe all see retirement at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do this forever, as much as I would love to,\u201d he added. \u201cI have to make way at some point for the next person to fill this role.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANHATTAN \u2014 Michael Magliano holds the highest uniformed rank in the Unified Court System: chief of department. Despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3308,9,11,10,49,56086,51,50],"class_list":["post-358987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-daily-bulletin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-court-system-unified-court-system","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}