Photo Credit: Image of Police Department and vehicle is from the City of Beacon Police Department Facebook Page.

On the night when cybersecurity professional Dustin Benedict was provisionally appointed before starting the Police Academy, which was the evening before the media reported that the City of Beacon had been victim of an alleged phishing-based hack that exposed numerous private documents from the computers of various departments including City Administrator, HR, and Finance, as well as personal documents of former employees including fire and police, the City of Beacon made a second provisional appointment of another police officer before he started the Police Academy: John Maraia, currently a UPS delivery driver and a graduate of SUNY Cortland with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology, lives in Mahopac and graduated from Yorktown High School.

These two hires leaves one more vacancy in Beacon's Police Department, a number seen as a triumph as the City of Beacon has struggled with retaining and securing officers. In December 2024, at the suggestion City Administrator Chris White, who suddenly retired in March 2026, Beacon began a $5,000 Referral Bonus program to incentivize new hires.

During the appointment of these two candidates by Chief Thomas Figlia, Councilperson Amber Grant clarified that this would close the gap to one vacancy left. "That's correct," the Chief replied.

"Are we going to have a party?" Councilperson Amber asked, which was followed by laughter.

"We'll have a party when there's zero vacancies," Chief Figlia answered.

The appointee John Maraia did not attend the evening in person, but was presented to be voted on. The Chief begin: "John's not here this evening because we are this close to completing his background check." The Chief made a tiny inch symbol with his index finger and thumb. "But we can't swear him in tonight. We would like to vote on him pending his completion of his medical and his background check because the next meeting is going to be too far away for us to get him in, get him his initial in-house training before the Academy, and get him to the Academy on the 14th of next month [September]."

In person, the Chief stated in his presentation before City Council: "He's passed the testing in the written form…We are waiting his results of his final phase of his background check, which is the fingerprints. They actually might have come back today, but the system was down all day. So, we kind of got a knife in the back on that one. The final part of his medical exam should be available probably by the end of this week.”

John was voted in pending his clearance of the incomplete requirements, pending the results cleared.