MASSENA -- Police Lt. Mark LaBrake is getting a promotion. The Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to appoint him the new police chief, effective Nov. 28.

He replaces Chief Tim Currier, who headed the department for 21 years and was elected mayor earlier in the month.

LaBrake says he wants to keep Massena’s police force on the path that it’s on.

“My number one priority is protecting the constitutional rights of our village: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said.

He says law enforcement needs to continue its fight against opiate and prescription drug abuse.

“It’s not something we can arrest our way out of,” he said. “We need preventative measures … and treatment facilities.”

His sentiments have been echoed on may occasions by Currier.

“We have the same attitude. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of it,” he said.

He added that he wants to urge lawmakers and healthcare providers to do their part to make this a reality.

“The job has changed a lot since I first started (in 1989),” LaBrake said. “There used to be a lot of domestics, that was a big priority.”

A veteran of the St. Lawrence County Drug Task Force, he said he has seen the primary drug trade move from large marijuana harvests to cocaine and crack cocaine to heroin. He says it’s hard to tell where it could go from here.

“Crime is down, so hopefully that’s a trend that continues,” he said.

LaBrake said he think he has an advantage going into the chief’s office because he worked every job in the Massena Police Department. He has been a patrolman, a K9 officer, in commercial vehicle enforcement, a sergeant, an investigator and his current rank. He said he also worked the dispatch desk on occasion, before they hired civilian dispatchers.

He says it may take some time to find an new lieutenant since none of their current roster has taken the necessary civil service exam. He said he needs the board’s approval before getting the process started.

LaBrake began his career in law enforcement with the Norwood Police Department in 1989. He joined Massena’s police force in May of 1990. He remained there until June 2007, when he took a position with the New York State Department of Corrections Inspector General’s Office, which answers to the Attorney General’s Office. He returned to Massena in May 2011.