Dr. Coghlan is a retired NYPD Detective, Second Grade appointed to the New York City Police Department in April 1997.  Coming from a law enforcement family, Dr. Coghlan’s grandfather Patrick Franklin Fish, Patrolman’s shield number 359, served 34 years with New York City’s Brooklyn Transit Police from 1938 to 1972.  Dr. Coghlan’s uncle Franklin Joseph Fish, Patrolman’s shield number 23179, served in the United States Marine Corps prior to serving with the New York City Police Department from 1962 until his death in 1968.

Prior to serving with the NYPD, Dr. Coghlan was a Postal Police Officer from 1996 to 1997, training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynn County, GA.  During his twenty-one years with the NYPD Dr. Coghlan was assigned to a number of commands, including the 108^thPrecinct, the 20^thPrecinct, the Officer of the Chief of Personnel, and the Psychological Evaluations Section.  From 2014 to his retirement in 2018 he served as the NYPD’s Clinical Liaison to the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA), a non-profit peer-support program.  In 2001, Dr. Coghlan was promoted to Detective, and again in 2004 to Detective, Second Grade.

In 2002, while working with the NYPD, Dr. Coghlan received his Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  In 2010, Dr. Coghlan received his PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology.  He continued to work full-time on midnights with the NYPD while attending his doctorate program full-time from 2005 to 2010.  From 2009 to 2010, he completed his doctoral internship at a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital, Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center.

From 2010 to 2018 Dr. Coghlan was assigned with responsibilities as a Psychologist in the NYPD, performing numerous duties including fitness-for-duty-evaluations, candidate pre-employment psychological evaluations, military deployment debriefings, disciplinary stress triage, and trauma response.  From 2014 to 2018 Dr. Coghlan served as the NYPD’s liaison to a peer-support program, conducting a variety of fitness-for-duty tasks.  This work involved working clinically with officers experiencing a variety of mental health and wellness treatment needs, including the full range of the diagnostic spectrum; suicidal thoughts and attempts, mood disorders, traumatic stress, substance abuse and dependence, eating disorders, domestic and marital troubles, and others.  Dr. Coghlan is culturally competent in working with first responders.  He has a deep understanding of the needs and experiences of first responders, he possesses the specialized training needed to handle those needs, and he can relate directly to both the organizational and operational experiences of officers.

Dr. Coghlan is a past Visiting Fellow with the International Association of Chiefs of Police.  He is credentialed by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists, and is licensed to practice psychology in New York (020173) and New Jersey (6073).  He is also a member of the Police Psychological Services Section of the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, and the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology.