Meet Our Team

President

Detective Sergeant Hector Cartagena

City of Yonkers Police Department

Crisis Negotiator

Crime Scene Unit

1998 - Present

Hector Cartagena was born and raised in the City of Yonkers by his mother, Carmen, and late father, Alejandro, who came here from their native Puerto Rico in search of the American dream. Hector grew up in the south side of Yonkers and attended Yonkers Public Schools. He was part of the final graduating Class from Yonkers High School in 1986. He enlisted in the U.S. Army within days of graduation. He always knew he would be a cop one day; he began working jobs in the automotive and construction fields while taking night classes to earn a degree in Criminal Justice.

Hector began his career in law enforcement 30 years ago as a Park Ranger working for the Westchester County Police Dept. He has served as a Corrections Officer for the NYS Dept of Corrections and also served as a Detention Officer for the Yonkers Police Dept before being sworn in as a Yonkers Police Officer 25 years ago. He spent many years as a Patrol Officer in the Third Precinct, which covers the southwest section of Yonkers, including the neighborhoods where he grew up in Yonkers. Hector spoke fluently in Spanish and volunteered to be assigned a Foot Post walking the beat along South Broadway and the surrounding neighborhoods for years. This allowed him to develop a friendly connection with the local residents and merchants, which aided in addressing any complaints of unlawful activity. He was an interpreter for the Dept at a time when there weren’t many Hispanics on the force. It was during these early years that Hector trained with the FBI as a Hostage Negotiator at their Training Facility in Queens, NY; he has now been a YPD Crisis Negotiator for the past 21 years. In 2008, Hector was appointed to the rank of Detective and was assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, where he served for nearly 12 years. In January 2019, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and reassigned to his beloved Third Precinct; however, just a few months later, in that same year, he was appointed to the rank of Detective Sergeant and returned to the Detective Division as a Supervisor. He currently supervises the YPD Crime Scene Unit, which comprises 14 Detective Specialists who are highly trained in evidence detection and preservation.

Hector has been a member of Westchester Hispanic Law Enforcement Association for over 25 years, and has served many years as a Board Director at Large; he also served as our Sgt. At Arms for years before becoming our President. One of his main goals during his final year as an active member is to bring in and welcome the next generation of Hispanics into this noble profession, to let them know they are part of a much larger community of brothers and sisters in blue. Hector has always been very proud to represent Hispanics in the Law Enforcement Community; he has often said that his proudest moment was when he pinned his old badge on his son “Hector Jr” after he was sworn in as a Yonkers Police Officer in January 2020. His son is currently assigned to his old Third Precinct.

“May God continue to bless and protect us all.”