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Peeskill Mayor Mary Foster introduced Johansen, who has served as acting chief since Police Chief Eugene Tumolo retired in early January.
"We received a number of letters from city residents, business owners, the Westchester District Attorney's Office and a number of others stating how much they were impressed with Eric's professionalism, ideas and helpfulness and his reaching out to groups in the Peekskill community," said Mayor Mary Foster.
Johansen has served on the Peekskill Police Department for 19 years, and before that was member of the city's fire department. He thanked both his own family and his department family for their support over the years and said he excited to start his work as chief.
"I plan on giving our supervisors and all our officers the tools they need to complete their jobs efficiently and effectively," Johansen told those on hand. "I also see great opportunities to increase interaction with the school district and to continue to deploy our school resource officers and forge positive relationships in the city through the school district."
Johansen is a Cortlandt resident, but the city enacted a residency requirement for the police chief late last year. Acting city manager Brian Havranek said that only when Johansen's one-year probation is over will the residency requirement go into effect, and the city council can override the requirement with a supermajority vote.
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