WESTFIELD – A host of candidates turned out at the Westfield Police Commission meeting Monday evening to interview for an acting sergeant position but, when the dust settled, the commissioners each chose the same officer.
The appointment was needed to fill a temporary vacancy resulting from a long-term injury to Sgt. Robert Saunders. Chief John Camerota said that the position was projected to be open for “three to six months.”
The candidates – Douglas Lavalley, Juanita Mejias, John Parrish, Patrick Shea, Kevin Bard, Sean F. Smith, Harry Sienkiewicz, Francis Gaulin and Seth J. Florek – faced an interview before the commissioners and at the end of the parade Commissioner Leonard M. Osowski said “I wish I could have you all sergeants but we’re going to have to pick one.”
When the commissioners deliberated they all endorsed Bard. Commissioner Felix Otero said “He does the job, he does it right” and the department’s senior officers concurred.
The commissioners pointed to Bard, with 21 years on the job, as the most senior of the nine candidates and Camerota said that 19-year veteran Sienkiewicz was also an outstanding candidate and, in his view, a close second.
In his interview, Sienkiewicz had pointed out that he has worked in every division of the police department and Camerota said that “He’s done everything we’ve ever asked him to do.”
When Sienkiewicz worked on the FBI’s Russian organized crime task force, Camerota said, “He was the guy they looked up to.”
“You have some recommendations from other commanding officers and they all point to the same guy, Kevin Bard,” Camerota told the commissioners. “I think he has distinguished himself as a leader among his peers and I would feel comfortable, especially that I’m planning on leaving in the future, knowing that somebody of his caliber is coming up in the ranks to take control of this department.”
“I love the job. I love police work. I love coming to work every day,” Bard told the commissioners when interviewed. “I don’t know of too many guys on this job who feel the same way as I do.”
“I treat people with the utmost respect,” he said. “My parents instilled the work ethic second to none in me and I treat people exactly the way I want to be treated. And I think these young kids, I think they need to be inspired to come to work, inspired to do their job, do it effectively and efficiently and I think I can help motivate them to do that.”
Capt. Michael McCabe, who said he hadn’t spoken for any of the other candidates “because I didn’t want to say anything contrary”, said he has known Bard personally since about 1980. “There’s not another candidate who is his rival right now,” he endorsing his candidacy for the position.
The department’s other captain, Hipolito Nunez, agreed.
“One of the hardest things for a patrolman, or any supervisor, is to hold their men accountable,” Nunez said.
He said that he has worked with Bard for many years and said he has the ability “to be able to step out from being a patrolman, become a sergeant, and be able to hold his men and women accountable to their duties and, at the same time, take pride in educating them to be something other than what they are.”
Commission chairman Karl Hupfer asked Sgt. Jeffrey Baillargeon for a sergeant’s perspective and Baillargeon agreed that Bard would be his first choice, followed by Sienkiewicz.
Baillargeon said that Bard has asked current supervisors how they do their duties and has come in, on his own time, so Baillargeon could show him booking procedures and other tasks that supervisors are called upon to perform.
“When he wants something, he goes after it a hundred percent,” he said.
After the chorus of approval, Osowski made a motion to appoint Bard and it passed, unanimously.
“Officer Sienkiewicz, it was a tough one,” said Otero to Sienkiewicz after the vote. “You made it tough for us.”
Hupfer had words of encouragement for the disappointed candidates calling them “some of the best” and saying “at some point in your career, if you still want it, I’m sure with the caliber that you came across with us tonight, you will make it.”
Bard assumed his duties as acting sergeant starting at midnight on the dog watch, midnight to eight o’clock, Wednesday morning.
