WESTFIELD – The Police Commission voted Monday night to appoint four reserve officers to full-time patrol officer positions, with those officers set to attend the police academy in August.
Captain Michael McCabe said the four appointments bring the department’s patrol force “to where we need to be” but added that retirement of at least one veteran officer is scheduled for later this year and that others are pending.
Commission Chairman Kart H. Hupfer said yesterday that he has been impressed with the quality of recent candidates being appointed to the Police Department.
“We’ve been pretty lucky. All of the reservists appointed have been right up to par. The last 17 reservists have been excellent candidates,” Hupfer said. “There are a few left on (the current) Civil Service list and they are excellent candidates for future appointment.”
The Commission appointed Andrew Vega, whose appointment was effective Tuesday, and Steven Clement, Zachary Demers and Aaron Spiller. Clement, Demers and Spiller’s effective date of appointment is Aug. 17 when all four of the new patrol officers will begin attending the academy.
“They’re all good candidates,” McCabe said Tuesday following the Police Commission’s action Monday night. “They all have between 80 and 120 hours of training done through the in-house Field Training Program which is taught by veteran officers who are subject matter experts in different area of policing.”
“I look forward to working with these young officers in the future,” McCabe said. “This will, at least temporarily, get us to a full complement of patrol officers.”
Hupfer said that the commission received a Civil Service waiver to immediately assign Vega to patrol duties following the resignation of a patrolman who is transferring to the state Department of Environmental Police.
“We got a waiver that allowed us the opportunity to appoint Officer Vega immediately to work until the academy begins in August,” Hupfer said. “He’s already completed all of his in-service and reserve training. So his appointment was effective May 12 which will save a little of overtime money.”
Hupfer said the commission “went right down the Civil Service list, appointing the top three candidates, the fourth candidate on the list asked not to be appointed because he is currently undergoing training, so we took the fifth person. The appointments bring us back to a full complement barring retirements.”
