The Police Commission’s plans to hire a new police patrol officer have again been delayed, with that hiring now expected to occur by April.

The person would fill the vacancy that was created by the resignation of Steven Santucci, 39, a sergeant, who resigned his post after being arrested on multiple federal drug charges last April.

Santucci has pleaded guilty to two charges and is scheduled for sentencing in March in US District Court in Hartford.

Then-Police Chief Michael Kehoe told Police Commission members at a January 5 session that the police department was not able to obtain a student seat in the police officer basic training course starting this month at the state’s Municipal Police Academy in Meriden.

(Chief Kehoe retired from the police department on January 6. His vacancy was filled on January 7, when James Viadero started work as the new police chief.)

Chief Kehoe said the police department would thus seek a student seat for a new officer in the training academy that starts in April.

If possible, the department might seek a student seat in another municipal police academy which starts sooner than April, he said. Several cities in Connecticut have police academies which sometimes have training seats available for other municipalities’ new police officers. 

The town currently has 44 sworn police officers. When fully staffed, it has 45 officers.

In October, police officials had expected to hire a new police officer, but those plans fell through.

In the past, the police department had conducted its own police officer candidate testing process to find new staff members. But most recently, town police have been reviewing centralized pools of candidates for patrol officer posts.

The Police Commission, which is the agency that hires new police, authorized the hiring of a replacement for Santucci soon after he resigned his post.