WESTFIELD – The Police Commission interviewed three finalists for the Domestic Violence Advocate/Principal Clerk position at the Westfield Police Department, and then, following a short executive session discussion, selected a police dispatcher.
Police Chief John Camerota said that 25 people applied for the post and that the Human Resource Department selected five candidates whose applications were reviewed by police officials who selected the three to be interviewed Monday night.
The interviews were conducted by Human Resource Director Karin Decker who asked the three candidates the same questions, with follow up questions posed by the board members and Captain Michael McCabe.
The post has been held for the past 17 years by Donna Suckau, who recently retired, and has changed over the years as the court system has established the Victim-Witness program, and, more recently, Domestic Abuse prevention programs.
McCabe said that the duties of the department domestic violence advocate have become more administrative, and that the coordinator assists the department by providing domestic violence data to the state agencies and the court system.
The commission selected Jullian Koziol, who has worked as a dispatcher at the city’s emergency response center for the past three years. Koziol said she has developed strong organizational and communication skills working an emergency dispatcher who often deals with simultaneous calls.
Koziol said she has, as an emergency response dispatcher, coordinated police and emergency medical service (EMS) ambulance calls involving domestic violence.
The field of candidates for the city position included Karen Lussier, who has served in the court system as a victim/witness advocate and who, during the past two years while assigned to Westfield District Court, has worked closely with Suckau.
The third candidate, Katelin Racicot, has also worked in both district court system and the juvenile court system in the court’s domestic violence and victim/witness programs.
The Police Commission, in other business, voted to make an appointment to the department’s reserve force. The board recently interviewed 15 candidates and appointed eight applicants to the reserve force.
The commission, through Decker, requested Civil Service to allow the appointment of a ninth reserve officer instead of waiting until Civil Service issued a new list of candidates in September. Civil Service granted an exemption to allow the ninth appointment.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Aleksandr Golenev to that post.
