The North Kingstown Town Council welcomed the town's newest police chief last night. Thomas Mulligan stood before the council alongside his family as Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin swore him in as North Kingstown's top cop.

Members of the North Kingstown Police Department, family and friends packed the Beechwood Senior Center to Mulligan, a longtime NK resident, take the reigns as police chief.

After the swearing in ceremony, Mulligan spoke before the crowd and thanked his family and his parents for teaching him the adage "treat others the way you want to be treated." He said the police chiefs he served under had lived by this creed and he planned to do the same.

"My promise to my family, to my officers, to the community, to serve you as well as you've served me throughout the years," said Mulligan.

Mulligan has spent his entire career with the North Kingstown Police Department, working from the ground up as a reserve patrol officer in 1984 and up through the ranks all the way to police chief.

"It's quite remarkable," said Council President Elizabeth Dolan. "That's quite a career."

He has served as the department's acting police chief since the retirement of Edward Charbonneau in December.