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By Carol Olechowski Thomas A. Constantine, M.A.’71, is having his picture taken. It’s not something the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration does every day, but today is a special occasion: He has returned to Albany for the 30th anniversary celebration of the School of Criminal Justice at his alma mater. And while he confesses that the photo session “reminds me of being at a wedding,”
Constantine seems to be enjoying himself. As he stands near Hawley Hall on the University’s Rockefeller College
campus, he regards its brick façade and exclaims, “I love these old buildings!” He banters with the School’s
dean, David Bayley, and reminisces about some of his DEA assignments. Then, turning his attention to the photographer,
the 5-foot-11 Constantine growls good-naturedly, “Make me look tall!”
After the photo session, the DEA chief dashes off to a television interview. His schedule this Wednesday has already included a 50-minute morning flight from Washington, D.C. to Albany, a meeting and lunch with Bayley, and a radio interview. He’ll do two more interviews this afternoon — one with the Times Union, the other live during WTEN’s 5 p.m. newscast — and then attend a reception before taking the podium to deliver the keynote address at the School of Criminal Justice dinner. Aside from his good humor and boundless energy, perhaps the most striking thing about Constantine is how down-to-earth he is. He clearly knows where he came from—he began his criminal justice career as an Erie County deputy sheriff—and who he is. When interviewers ask why he’s visiting Albany, he explains, pride audible in his voice, that he’s back for the School’s anniversary dinner. He speaks affectionately of his wife, Ruth, and their six children and 11 grandchildren, noting that the only drawback to his current job is that he doesn’t get to spend as much time with them as he did formerly. He says that he plans to move back to the Capital Region once he’s completed his work with the DEA. For now, however, there’s plenty to keep him busy at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Constantine oversees a workforce of more than 7,000 in all 50 states and in 50 other nations. He has also promoted
closer DEA cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies, and directed DEA resources toward assisting
foreign governments in their efforts to dismantle powerful drug trafficking organizations, include the Cali mafia
in Colombia.
The 59-year-old Constantine has found plenty of both during a career spanning nearly four decades. From his years as a deputy through his service with the New York State Police and his current post with the DEA, he’s seen countless crimes—but perhaps none so invidious, he notes, as those that are drug-related. Constantine followed the traditional “blue-collar entry” into law enforcement, going to the Erie County Sheriff’s Department from a job at a radiator manufacturing plant in Buffalo. In 1962, he joined the New York State Police as a uniform trooper. During his 34-year career with the state police, he served in every uniformed and investigative capacity, rising to the rank of superintendent in 1986. After earning his undergraduate degree in 1970 from the State University College in Buffalo, Constantine had the opportunity to enter the master’s program at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice. Today, he credits the lessons he learned at Albany with “helping me tremendously in my career. The professors and the students were very, very bright. The faculty required rigorous research and were meticulous in their requirement that arguments be supported by facts.” When the master’s fellowship was completed, Constantine enrolled in another 30 hours of academic work to pursue a Ph.D., but continued promotions, he says, “made it impossible” for him to complete the dissertation. His favorite professor was the late Donald Newman, who was also a dean of the School. “He taught about the administration of justice. Professor Newman had great understanding and almost a blue-collar ethic himself. He was able to relate to us on a police officer’s level,” Constantine recalls. That same ability to relate to others has served Constantine himself well, particularly at the DEA. He did not seek the administrator’s position, however. He had planned to retire from the state police in 1998 after 12 years as superintendent, but when the U.S. Justice Department called in 1994 and asked him to interview for the DEA’s top job, he didn’t hesitate. Constantine relishes doing what he calls “God’s work.” “The [drug] issue is one of the most serious social challenges facing our country today,” he asserts. “It impacts on health, and on domestic violence and other crimes of violence. In fact, 70 percent of all felons arrested in this country for crimes of violence are under the influence of illicit drugs at the time they’re arrested.” Constantine firmly believes that the solution to the drug problem rests with the family. “And the ultimate answer is prevention—encouraging, educating, and persuading young people not to use drugs.”
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John Delano / Dean Falk / Caro-Beth Stewart / Michael Forbes / John McHugh / Robert Bellafiore / Washington Semester Program / James Jaccard / Darcie and Joe Trapasso / News & Notes / Faculty Books / Kresge Grant |
