Today, he’s helping keep Lake Placid’s streets safe as the police department’s newest sergeant.

Members of the Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees approved Kane’s promotion at their Oct. 16 meeting. He is now one of two sergeants on the force.

Kane was introduced to law enforcement by his godfather, LPPD Chief Bill Moore, who retired in 2022.

“He used to drive by with the police car, and I always found it pretty cool, the lights and sirens as a kid,” Kane said Thursday, Oct. 26, sitting at his desk at the police department in the North Eba Town Hall.

Kane got the idea to become a police officer while in high school.

“I just wanted to do something different every day, something that didn’t always have me behind a desk, although I do find myself behind a desk,” he said. “Law enforcement comes with a lot of paperwork.”

Kane graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in June 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in environmental science, and he didn’t have to wait long for a job offer.

“I was open to anywhere, I guess, but when I graduated college, this opportunity came up and I just sort of jumped on it,” he said. “It was two weeks after I graduated college I got hired here.”

Kane attended the Zone 9 Plattsburgh Police Training Academy, with six months of classroom study and about three months of field training before becoming a patrol officer. He likes that no two days — and no two calls — are the same.

“All sorts of different kinds of calls, whether it be domestic disputes or running traffic or fraud cases, there’s so much that comes with law enforcement,” he said. “We walk through the schools a lot. We engage with the community. There’s just endless opportunities of things to do and stuff that comes at you that you have to handle.”

Kane also likes the challenges that come with law enforcement.

“It forces you to adapt to different situations, so every day I’m learning something new, which is good,” he said. “And I think throughout my career, I’ll always be learning.”

Lately, Kane has been learning more about enforcing the drug laws since there’s been an uptick in drug arrests.

“I’ve been on for four-and-a-half years, and I haven’t seen a ton of that, so that’s been sort of new to us,” he said.

One of the challenges is having to deal with repeat offenders. For example, a person was recently arrested three times in one day because a judge couldn’t set bail for certain offenses.

“If they can’t set bail, we have no option than to release the subject,” Kane said.

The promotion won’t change most of his day-to-day duties, but over time, he will get more administrative duties.

“As a sergeant, I’m responsible for the officers that I’m working with, making sure that everybody’s following the department policies and procedures and basically that we’re just running smoothly and effectively,” he said.

Kane works 12-hour shifts. On Oct. 26, he was working 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“Shortly I’ll be moving to the night shift, supervising the night shift,” he said.

The Lake Placid Police Department currently has a staff of 16: Chief Chuck Dobson; Assistant Chief Frank Strack; two sergeants; six full-time patrol officers; four part-time patrol officers; an administrative assistant; and a person working in traffic control/parking enforcement. Dobson said Wednesday, Nov. 1 that the department is currently hiring full-time patrol officers and traffic control/parking enforcement positions.