As of 4PM on Wednesday, Brian Frieday, Chief Deputy of Road Patrol, is officially retired. Sgt. Andrew Hale(right) will be sworn in on Thursday afternoon as the new Chief Deputy of Road Patrol at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office. (Photo by Mike Pettinella)
By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
Genesee County Sheriff Joseph Graff on Wednesday announced the appointment of Andrew B. Hale as the agency’s chief deputy of road patrol, replacing Brian M. Frieday, who concluded his 30-year career with the sheriff’s office later in the day by taking part in the traditional “walk-out” ceremony at the Park Road facility.
Video News Service and representatives of other local media outlets interviewed both law enforcement officers at the Sheriff’s Office on Park Road.
Video of Chief Frieday’s Walk Out on April 29th, 2026
FRIEDAY: “IT JUST FLEW BY”
“It just flew by – more than half my life, close to three-fifths of my life I’ve spent at the Sheriff’s Office, whether it be this building or over at 14 West Main – and it’s been a great ride,” said Frieday, who joined the department on May 13, 1996 as a deputy sheriff.
Frieday was promoted to sergeant in May 2005 and then to chief deputy of road patrol in April 2019. During that time, he served as a field training officer, breath test instructor, firearms instructor, aerosol subject restraint instructor and Honor Guard member. He was one of the original members of the Sheriff’s Office to be assigned to the Emergency Response Team, where he eventually became the team commander.
He said he experienced many things during his tenure, “some that you don’t want people to see and then some great things from other deputies, other departments’ police officers, social workers, etc., that let you know that there is goodness in humanity.”
Frieday exemplified that charitable spirit by helping others in need, specifically mentioning a time when he bought some food for a family have a late-night dispute over not having enough money to get by.
“I personally had that happen where I went to a domestic and … what the cause of the argument was they didn’t have money and they were worried about food,” he said. “They’ve got a small child there and I ran to the corner store and grabbed them a loaf of bread and bologna and milk; just whatever I could get it you know two o’clock in the morning to get them through that night to the next day,” he said.
Frieday said he was thankful to be part of a “great community” of people who help each other out.
The agency’s Officer of the Year in 2001, Kiwanis Law Enforcement Award recipient in 2002 and Genesee County MADD Award winner in 1999, Frieday was hired by former Sheriff Gary Maha and went on to serve under William Sheron and current Sheriff Joseph Graff.
He talked about the circumstances leading to his employment nearly 30 years ago.
“It was sort of a little longer than I wanted it to be. I had taken the deputy sheriff’s exam and then went through the interview process and they gave me the conditional offer,” he said. “Then I had to go do the physical and my vision ended up not being up to civil service standards.
“So, I got scheduled for the surgery and then a week before I was scheduled for the surgery, they ended up mailing me a letter from civil service changing the requirements and I now fit.”
Frieday said he was supposed to go to the academy with Pete Welker and (the late) Tom Sanfratello but he ended up going after those two officers.
“It certainly would have been a nice part to have with Tom but during that process I originally interviewed with Undersheriff Barry Garigan,” he recalled. “Sheriff Sheron was chief deputy of the road at that time so in that couple of months transition, Undersheriff Garigan retired, (Sheron) became undersheriff and then Chief (Gordon) Dibble. So I certainly will always thank that administration – Sheriff Maha – for giving me a shot.”
A Batavia High graduate, Frieday attended Clarkson University for business engineering (where, incidentally, his son, Matthew, will be graduating from next weekend) but said that career choice “wasn’t for me.”
“I came back here and went to GCC, got just a general studies degree and then figured out that criminal justice was a path I wanted to explore,” he said. “So, I ended up at Brockport with a criminal justice degree and then started taking exams. I did have a security job during that time just to get try to get a little background in it.”
Frieday said he will continue to work, this time in security at one of the Batavia schools – a job where he won’t have to worry about the phone ringing in the middle of the night.
He said he plans to spend more time with the family, which also includes daughter, Hailey, a student at the University of Buffalo, and longtime partner, Stacey Pastuszynski.
“And I’m planning on trying to get as much boat use in the summer and some time on the golf course and I’m sure a couple projects at home,” he said. “I’ll try to relax either on the water or on the golf course — probably relax better on the water than the golf course.”
(File photo-Sgt. Andrew Hale Meritorious Award 2024) with retired Chief Deputy Frieday (left), Sheriff Graf f(right) and former Undersheriff Mazur.
HALE: A CALL TO PUBLIC SERVICE
Hale joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Batavia High and did a couple tours in Iraq (including the battle of Fallujah) from 2002-2006 before coming home and earning his bachelor’s degree in military history from St. John Fisher College (now University).
He is a decorated veteran, having received the Marine Good Conduct Medal, Rifle Marksmanship Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal and Presidential Unit Citation-Navy.
His career with Sheriff’s Office is highlighted by eight commendations, the 2017 NYS Sheriff’s Association Institute Deputy of the Year, 2020 Governor’s Certificate of Exceptional Valor Award, 2020 WNY ASIS International Law Enforcement Appreciation Recognition and 2021 Kiwanis Law Enforcement Award.
Hale started his law enforcement career with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office on June 17, 2013, leaving a job as a FedEx driver in Rochester.
“I was going through college (at the time) and, I guess, I always wanted to get back into public service after the military,” he said. “It just seemed like a natural progression to get back into something like this.”
When asked about the experiences that have prepared him for the chief deputy of road patrol position, Hale first mentioned some advice given to him by his parents: “Work hard, don’t complain. Just your head down and stick to the grind.”
“And that taken me far beyond any other advice I’ve ever gotten in life.”
A sergeant on the afternoon shift for the past nine years, Hale said it has been a challenge being “the overseer of a young group of guys that want to get after it and trying to curtail all the different personalities to work together through a multitude of various police calls from barking dog complaints to fatal motor vehicle accidents to drug interdiction.”
“That’s probably been one of the most difficult things to navigate and probably one of the things that I learned the most from,” he added.
Hale was asked about an event in March 2016 when he was shot after pulling a car over for a seat belt violation in Byron. The shots came from a man who was in an upstairs room at the Byron Hotel. Thankfully, Hale was not hit by the bullets.
“Unfortunately, and I say fortunately, because it’s helped shape my career here at the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “I mean being in incidences like that where you’re in officer-involved shootings and stuff like that, it’s definitely stressful.
“You always second guess yourself, you second guess a lot of things. But, fortunately it helped propel me to where I’m at now. And this community was nothing but supportive.So I’m very thankful for that.”
Hale said that event brought up feelings that he had carried from military service.
“The fight isn’t always overseas; it’s very real here. It’s very real here in our own community at times,” he said. “Although that’s not to say that we live in a bad area; we just have a few bad actors. But I think we sometimes are naive to think that that can’t happen here in Genesee County. So for me, it made it very real that no matter where it is. You’re a police officer (and) those dangers exist.”
Hale thanked the deputies, including Frieday, who made sure that he was “well equipped, well informed and had the proper gear for the job.”
“They really did look out for us. You know, us new guys coming on the job, you really are just a guppy swimming in an ocean. So, they did their due diligence to make sure that we were well equipped and able to handle everything that this job could potentially throw at us. So, I give those guys a lot of credit that came before me.”
A father of three daughters, Hale said he has a steady girlfriend with “a house dog (and) white picket fence.
He said he hopes to “live up to the expectation and help keep the Sheriff’s Office propelling forward into the future – and maintain that standard we’d like to have here.”