PROVIDENCE – With a community policing approach that’s brought initiatives including addiction assistance and prevention, a Christmas gift drive, annual law enforcement recognition, and a database to help officers identify residents in need of special services to town, Col. Stephen Lynch has undoubtedly left his mark during the past dozen years in his role leading the Burrillville Police Department.
That work, as well as accomplishments in his previous 24-year career with the Rhode Island State Police, will be recognized and honored as Lynch takes his place this week in the Rhode Island Criminal Justice Hall of Fame. The Burrillville police chief is one of eight inductees in the 2024 class to be honored in a ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 30 at the Office of the Attorney General.

Established in 2012, the Rhode Island Criminal Justice Hall of Fame honors outstanding professionals who have worked to improve and uphold the principles of the criminal justice system in Rhode Island.
A Smithfield native who received a bachelor’s degree from Rhode Island College in 1982, Lynch graduated from the Rhode Island State Police Academy in 1986, joining the ranks that same year. With the state police, he served in the uniform division, transferring to detective in 1991, and held various positions including the Officer in Charge of Major Crimes.
Lynch served as a lieutenant and director of the Major Crimes unit from 1998 to 2003. He founded the Violent Fugitive Task Force as a detective sergeant, also publishing and maintaining Rhode Island’s Ten Most Wanted List. He was the Interpol liaison for Rhode Island, a Witness Protection Board member and served as the division’s detective commander for five years.
Lynch received 30 departmental commendations during his career with RISP, including the State Police Service Ribbon and Lifesaver Award in 2006. He retired from the state police in 2008 at the rank of major, and was named a Neil Houston Award winner in 2012 for his career efforts.
In the four years that followed, Lynch worked as the assistant athletic director at Brown University, also serving on the Department of Public Safety Oversight Board, and advising students in disciplinary hearings.
He was appointed colonel and chief of the Burrillville Police Department in June of 2013 and his first years in town presented new law enforcement challenges, as a surge of overdose deaths in Burrillville drew national attention. Lynch devised a comprehensive approach to combat the problem with the formation of the Burrillville Addiction Assistance Program and Burrillville Prevention Action Coalition, launching the dual initiatives in 2017. Both have been largely successful, garnering outside praise, including recognition just last year by the national nonprofit Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative.
His approach to the role of chief has been community-driven in other ways as well, with outreach efforts that have included the launch of an annual Christmas drive. During the chief’s first year in town, the department’s donations benefitted Toys 4 Tots, but after that Lynch aimed to keep the charity local, working with town-based organizations such as Between the Cracks. In 2014 the department adopted one Burrillville family, and the holiday drive has since taken on a life all its own, with officers dividing into teams for some competitive generosity, and gifts occupying every spare space at police headquarters through the holiday season. The department now provides a complete holiday for a new list of recipients each year with the help of support from community, and thought for each detail, down to treats for each family dog.
Another tradition that began under Lynch during his first year in town was the BPD’s annual law enforcement recognition awards ceremony, an event that also honors outstanding achievements by residents in the community. Local government officials, neighboring agencies, families of officers and more attend the yearly gatherings, which highlight achievements from the previous 12 months both in and outside of police work.
In 2021, Lynch launched MURPH, a database of residents with special needs, including those diagnosed with autism or Alzheimer’s disease, with the goal of making Burrillville officers more prepared to deescalate difficult situations.
Burrillville’s esteemed chief also has a history an accomplished athlete. At RIC, he starred as a goaltender on the soccer team in a career that resulted in his induction into the Rhode Island College Athletic Hall of Fame. Lynch was named to the College’s All-75th Anniversary Men’s Soccer Team in 2005. Lynch received the Rhode Island College Social Work Alumni Honor Roll Award in 2006 and in 2014, he was recipient of the college’s Athletic Alumnus Award.
He has served on the Rhode Island College Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Board and as a lecturer at Brown University and Amherst College on Hazing in College Athletics.
On Thursday, he’ll be among eight distinguished members of Rhode Island’s criminal justice community to be inducted. Other 2024 inductees include Michelle Alves; Toby Ayers; the late Ralph Ezovski; Major David Lapatin; Dana Smith; Col. Michael Winquist and J. Patrick Youngs.
Lets not kid ourselves there are a lot of police that want to do a good job and would want to show more character but cant because of the police union and the policeman bill of rights. I get it that criminals are smart and the police need some discretion. They do not need the right to manipulate there authority on my friends, family and me just so they can for some unknown reason.
If you would like court transcripts on how awful it gets and the chief told me it was OK I can fax you a copy.
It is nice to him patting himself on the back. It is to bad that he can not hear or see when someone complains that his own are not doing there job and abusing there authority.
After some consideration, we did decide to approve your comment. But we’d like to note that it’s a statewide team – and perhaps NRI NOW with our reporting on his long resume – that is actually patting the chief on the back.