With the recent retirement of police Captain Joe Rios, who has taken a job in the field of preparedness/security with the Norwalk public school system, there is a key vacancy at the Newtown Police Department.

When a patrol officer retires from the department, the Police Commission typically replaces that person with a civilian recruit to be trained and certified as a new patrol officer.

But because Mr Rios's vacated post is near the top of the police department's hierarchy, his departure will result in at least four staffing changes at the department, marking the biggest shift in supervisory roles there in many years.

The department has one chief, one captain, three lieutenants, and seven sergeants, with the remainder of the 45-member staff serving as patrol officers, detectives, or school resource officers.

It is expected that the captain's vacancy will be filled by one of the three lieutenants now at the department. A person will be appointed as captain by the Police Commission, with the police chief offering a recommendation on that selection.

Police Commission Chairman Joel Faxon said October 13, "While [filling] the captain's position has no specific protocols or requirements, we [commission] have decided that the promotion will be internal."

Thus, the person to be named captain would be a current member of the police department, rather than a police officer from some other department.

Making an internal promotion will "maintain the integrity and continuity of the agency, particularly since we have such an excellent pool of lieutenants from which to select a captain," Mr Faxon said.

The captain's post is a nonunion job, so the person who becomes the captain would not be covered by the terms of the union's collective bargaining agreement with the town. However, a captain may work under the terms of an individual labor contract. The police chief also has a nonunion post.

Because a current lieutenant would assume the captain's post, that would create a lieutenant's vacancy. That vacancy would be filled by someone who currently is a sergeant, thus creating a sergeant's vacancy.

Promotions to the rank of lieutenant and to the rank of sergeant are covered under the terms of the police union's labor contract with the town government.

Because there is currently no standing promotional list for the post of lieutenant, the Police Commission is expected to hire a testing firm that administers a written test for that job. Applicants also would have an oral test. Candidates also would be interviewed by the Police Commission.

The police department has a standing promotional list for the post of sergeant. The commission would choose the new sergeant from among the people on that list, which is based on the results of previous written testing for the rank of sergeant.

The net decrease of one person in police department staff, which was caused by Mr Rios's retirement, would be rectified by hiring a recruit to be trained as a police patrol officer. While the Police Commission has the option of hiring a certified police officer from another police department, the agency in most cases has hired a civilian to be trained as a new officer.

That person spends almost six months in a training program at the state Municipal Police Academy in Meriden, after which several months are spent in a local field training program, after which the hire patrols independently.

The process of promoting three people to higher ranks within the police department and hiring a new officer is expected to take several months.

Mr Rios, 53, joined the police department in 1990 after having served as a Fairfield Hills police officer. Mr Rios was second-in-command at the Newtown Police Department from 1999 until his retirement in September. He had worked his way up through the ranks during his tenure.

In its role as an oversight agency, the Police Commission appoints, promotes, suspends, and removes, as needed, members of the police department. The commission also approves department policies, rules, and regulations.