The city’s police commission appointed Michael C. Chechile to be a permanent sergeant at their meeting Monday evening and took steps to address vacancies expected on the force in the next few months.
Chechile, a 17 year veteran of the department, had been appointed in April to be a temporary sergeant on an emergency basis, due to the absence of two supervisory officers because of medical issues.
Chechile, the last candidate available on the current civil service list, will fill the slot created by the retirement May 19 of Sgt. Dennis Donovan and his permanent appointment will be effective then.
Other officers will also retire from the force in the coming months, with the next vacancy expected on June 9 when veteran detective Susan Figy retires.
Later that month, on June 22, Lt. D. Paul Kousch will retire.
In October, another supervisory vacancy will be created when Sgt. Raymond Manos, currently the detective supervisor on the evening shift, will retire.
Camerota said that he will call for a sergeant’s exam when Manos retires. Because it will be months before a promotion list results from that test, an acting sergeant will be appointed for the interim, with the approval of state officials.
At the meeting Monday, the police commissioners scheduled a special meeting of the commission for May 29 to appoint three full-time patrol officers, as well as ten reserve officers.
The current reserve list, from which the full-time officers will be chosen, includes Joel Christofori, David A. Burl, Thomas F. Cusak, Bridgette Adams, David M. Arroyo, Sean Conners, Gary Hagar and Sean Brown.
Police Chief John Camerota presented a list of 25 candidates who have passed the civil service exam for appointment as reserve officers.
Candidates currently are being asked to declare their willingness to accept a position, if offered.
“Once, that happens, we’ll do extensive backgrounds (checks) and the actual interview date is yet to be determined” he said. “It might go to the June meeting. I’m not sure yet, but there are 25 candidates, so we have a lot of background investigations to conduct.”
The opening for a lieutenant created by Koush’s retirement will be filled by Lt. Michael Lacroix. He retired due to a medical issue, which has now been resolved, so he is ready and able to return to the force.
At the commission’s meeting, resignations from the department’s auxiliary force were accepted from auxiliary Sgt. Paul F. Fouche and auxiliary officer Edward Polachek.
Camerota said that Fouche has served on the auxiliary force “almost from its beginning and he’s done a great job” but has to retire due to health concerns. He said that Polachek has also served the auxiliary unit for many years “and has served with honor.”
Auxiliary Lt. Ron Minor told the commissioners that his force is short-handed and urged the commission to appoint three new auxiliary/special officers.
Auxiliary officers serve as volunteers and are used to perform extra patrols and for special events, such as parades and festivals. Special officers are generally retired officers and are employed for special details, such as construction traffic duty or major disasters.
Minor said that he and the auxiliary sergeants have interviewed four candidates and urged the appointment of Dan Feliciano, Taylor Derrig and Nathaniel Nunez as auxiliary/special officers as soon as possible, so they will be available for duty in time for upcoming parades and the Fourth of July celebrations.
The commission unanimously appointed all three candidates.
Feliciano, Minor said, has already completed the reserve/intermittent police academy and will be available for duty as soon as he completes in-house first responder and CPR training and becomes firearms qualified.
Derrig and Nunez will also have to become firearms qualified and will have to complete the reserve/intermittent academy before they can take the in-house training and go to work.
Minor later explained that the academy program is offered only when there are sufficient applicants to fill a class but said that lately there have been back-to-back classes so he has reason to hope there will be an academy course offered soon.
Camerota advised the commission that two of the retiring officers have asked for appointment as special officers. The commissioners unanimously appointed Donovan and Kousch as special officers.
