How a retired DEA agent became North Hampton’s newest rookie cop

NORTH HAMPTON — The town is another step closer to filling out its depleted police ranks with the hire of its “newest rookie,” 56-year-old Dan Genese.

Six months ago, when North Hampton Police Chief Robert LaBarge was hired, one of the town’s prime needs was filling police vacancies. More than 50% of the department’s officers had left in 2023 to take positions elsewhere.

One candidate offered a job had been Andrew Genese, “but his father talked him out of it,” LaBarge said.

Fast-forward six months to the Feb 26 North Hampton Select Board meeting, and Andrew’s dad, Dan Genese, stood with his hand raised and was being sworn in as the Police Department’s newest recruit.

This is hardly a career change for Genese, according to LaBarge.

Genese graduated from the New Hampshire Police Academy in 1992 and served as a patrolman, DARE and field training officer in Keene for five years.

“Then he transferred to the federal government,” LaBarge told the Select Board.

Genese spent 27 years of his 32-year law enforcement career with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. LaBarge said he worked in mid- to high-level drug enforcement cases, getting illegal drugs and their traffickers off the streets, including making “hundreds of undercover (drug) purchases.”

Over the decades, Genese worked in Chicago and Boston and spent his last three years teaching evidence, case management, and working with informants at the DEA’s Academy in Quantico, Virginia, LaBarge said.

“Then he decided he wanted to retire (from the DEA),” LaBarge said. “And he wanted to go back to his roots, back to community law enforcement, where he started. He’s going to be a strength and an asset, and we’re glad to have him aboard.”

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Genese excited to report for duty in North Hampton

A Yankees fan, born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Genese said he often ended up with bruises for championing Boston baseball’s archenemy.

What led him to a career in law enforcement was two television police dramas.

“It was from watching ‘The Streets of San Francisco,’ the one with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas,” Genese said, laughing. “That and ‘Adam-12.’”

Genese earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Massachusetts’ Westfield State College, and, at 22, joined the police department in Keene, where he met his wife, Annmarie.

His federal career saw the family move around a bit until he landed in Virginia at the DEA Academy, from which he retired.

“At the DEA we have to retire by 57,” he said. “I’d been out for three months on medical leave from the DEA and had a taste of retirement and doing nothing. I said to myself, ‘This isn’t going to work.’”

So, Genese retired a year early and moved the family from Virginia back to the state where it all began.

“We live in Rye,” he said. “My family has always loved the New Hampshire Seacoast.”

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Why did he apply to North Hampton PD after telling son to go elsewhere?

With North Hampton seeking police officers and his desire to get back to community policing, deciding to apply for a position with neighboring North Hampton Police Department seemed natural. The town needed cops, and he had skills and wanted a job.

“I look forward to serving the people of North Hampton,” Genese told the Select Board. “And being welcomed into the family of North Hampton police officers.”

Genese chuckled when asked about talking his son out of a position in North Hampton last year. Dan Genese said he was surprised that his son wanted to become a police officer, just like his dad.

“He was offered positions with both North Hampton and Portsmouth,” Genese said. “But at that time, North Hampton was going through a difficult period. It didn’t even have a (permanent) police chief at the time. I thought Portsmouth offered Andrew more opportunities. I’m at a different point in my career, and I’m very pleased to be serving in North Hampton.”

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: North Hampton hires 'new rookie,' retired DEA agent living in Rye