Maj. Darrin Pitkin, the new state police Troop B commander, comes from the Watertown zone of Troop D and is making a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to his home in Dexter every week. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

RAY BROOK — The new state police Troop B commander has spent two weeks on the job now and is learning the ins and outs of his new position and his New Jersey-sized troop.

Maj. Darrin Pitkin spent the last 14-and-a-half years as a zone commander for the Watertown zone of Troop D, covering Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties, so he has not moved too far and still works in the North Country, he said.

“I’ve spend most of my career in Troop D, actually my entire career except for a short stint on the Thruway,” Pitkin said. “I don’t know a lot about Troop B operations, but I’m learning. There are a lot of good people up here that are able to help me with that.”

Pitkin has not moved to the Troop B area, though. His family and hometown are in Dexter, around 6 miles west of Watertown. He makes the 100-mile commute there and back to spend weekends at home, and sleeps at the troop barracks in the Ray Brook headquarters during the week.

With all his children in college and after nearly 15 years as a zone commander, Pitkin had been ready for a change and applied for troop commander positions in Troops B and D.

“Now I’m just trying a position on sort of at the end of my career and trying something a little bit new,” Pitkin said.

Pitkin said that as a young adult he had wanted to be part of the state police force.

“We had several troopers that lived in my village [Dexter]. They were older people that I respected, looked up to,” Pitkin said. “I always aspired to be a member of the state police.”

But he was not always heading in that direction. He graduated college with a dual bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology, and then a master’s in public administration, and went into banking. Quickly he realized that wasn’t what he wanted to do, so he took the state police exam and started as a trooper in Alexandria Bay in 1990.

Pitkin said his new position is more administrative than his past ones, but according to the outgoing troop commander, John Tibbits Jr., it is still a very active job.

Tibbits had led the troop since 2016 and called the job a 24/7 position. He said he was on call at any moment of the night, prepared to visit any crime scene or investigation he needed to, and always kept the safety of his troopers in mind.

Tibbits invited Pitkin up for several meetings before he started to introduce him to the important issues in the troop, which Pitkin said was helpful.

Pitkin also described how his daily focuses are keeping his troopers safe, learning from the people who have worked at the troop for years and assisting the community however possible.

He said the community-focused atmosphere of the North Country spreads to state police, too, and influences how they do their job.

Tibbits left Troop B to take a statewide position as staff inspector for the uniformed force, and has now earned the rank of inspector.

Pitkin, who was a captain in his zone commander position, earned the rank of major with his promotion.