James Kralik of Sloatsburg, NY – Retired Rockland County Sheriff (April 19, 1943 – July, 24 2017)

James Kralik known as “Cowboy Kralik,” retired from his post in 2011 after 49 years in the Rockland County Sheriff’s office, spending his final years in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he owned a horse farm. He was a licensed battlefield guide, frequently guiding tours on horseback. Kralik had been chief of patrol for two decades before being elected sheriff in November, 1991. He will be remembered for the steps he took to unify Rockland’s police and bring federal funding to the area.

He started back in November of 1962 and “the first night, I had to be told my shift was over and to come in,” Kralik said. He immediately became aware of how each town police department was separate from one another and refused to work over town lines. “There was an imaginary line that was a true barrier,” Kralik said, adding, “that is not what I think we should be doing, so I spent my whole law enforcement career trying to change that”

Kralik also pulled in $16 million of federal grant money to be distributed throughout law enforcement in Rockland.
Remembered on this day. It was announced in August of 2018 that the Rockland County sheriff’s complex will be renamed in his memory. The complex will include the Sheriff’s administration offices, jail, and radio room. Kralik, started the Sheriff’s Mounted Patrol Unit, and that legacy lives on to this day.

2019 Wayne Day in Stony Point

Information provided by Rockland County Historian Kato Hatch.