Ep68: Joseph Gramaglia - Retired Buffalo Police Commissioner, Tops, and Leading Through Crisis

John sits down with Joseph Gramaglia, Retired Commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department and President of the Major City Chiefs Association - the organization representing the 70 largest urban police departments in the United States and nine in Canada. Joseph spent his entire career in Buffalo policing, rising from the Buffalo Housing Police at 23 to the commissioner’s chair in 2022. He retired in early 2025 and now runs a consulting practice working with police departments and technology companies across the country. The conversation is a genuine insider account of what it means to lead a major urban police force through sustained crisis. Joseph became commissioner and within days was managing an officer-involved shooting, within three weeks a Hollywood-style chase across three municipalities with two officers shot, and a month and a half later the Tops Friendly Markets massacre on Jefferson Avenue. He talks about how the department responded, the expansion of the peer wellness program that followed, and the data-driven violent crime reduction strategy that produced three consecutive record lows in shooting victims through 2023, 2024, and 2025. He also covers the leadership lessons that took 30 years to learn, what working with Mayor Brown and partner Keith Vona was actually like, and why communication is the single most important thing any leader can do. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 🎧 New episodes every week. 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice. 00:00 --- Introduction 00:55 --- Life after the commissioner’s chair 01:32 --- Consulting and staying connected 02:51 --- Why travel makes better leaders 04:08 --- The Major City Chiefs Association 07:12 --- Watching from the outside now 09:16 --- Growing up in a law enforcement family 10:02 --- College, communications, and public speaking 11:10 --- Taking the test at 19 11:49 --- Buffalo Housing Police and meeting Keith Vona 12:29 --- Choosing city policing over the state police 13:08 --- One goal: don’t retire in a blue uniform 13:51 --- 14 years as a patrol officer before lieutenant 16:00 --- Keith Vona as a young cop 17:30 --- Rising through the ranks 19:00 --- Moving to homicide command 23:37 --- The cases that stay with you 25:12 --- Solving cold cases with genealogy DNA 26:15 --- Creating the gun violence unit 29:37 --- Becoming commissioner: having a plan ready 30:49 --- Managing mayor, union, press, and council 31:46 --- Communication as the number one leadership tool 33:12 --- Feeding the beast: building media relationships 36:09 --- Day one: the Hurdle Avenue shooting and body cam video 37:51 --- Three weeks in: the chase and officers shot 38:41 --- The Tops massacre: arriving on scene 39:40 --- Getting through the first year 40:44 --- Officer wellness before and after Tops 41:07 --- Building the peer team into the department 42:54 --- The first dedicated wellness officer 44:40 --- Technology that tracks officer trauma exposure 46:23 --- The Micro Violent Hotspot Reduction Plan 47:37 --- Three record lows in shooting victims 50:19 --- The 97% homicide clearance rate explained 52:08 --- Advancing detective training 52:31 --- How cold cases get reopened 54:31 --- The state of law enforcement today 55:03 --- Why policing ain’t cheap and can’t be cut 56:00 --- The $110.5M budget and what it actually covers 57:30 --- Officers getting hurt: what the public doesn’t see 58:00 --- Advice to 23-year-old Joseph 59:09 --- This is a profession, not a job 01:01:32 --- What consulting looks like now 01:03:04 --- The Liebengood Foundation wellness conference