Union Asks Police Commission To Make Staff Appointments

By Andrew Gorosko

The Newtown Police Union has asked the Police Commission why an acting sergeant’s post at the police department has not been created, and why a person has not been named to serve as the third detective in the detective bureau.

Police union president Robert Koetsch posed the questions at an August 1 Police Commission meeting.

Mr Koetsch, a patrolman, asked why the commission did not create an acting sergeant’s post after Sergeant Joe Rios was named to the post of acting captain in early May. Not naming someone to the post poses morale problems, Mr Koetsch said. The commission is “shutting the door” on a supervisory position, he added. Other police departments fill such vacancies when they exist, Mr Koetsch said.

 The police department has adequate manpower to name someone to an acting sergeant’s post, he added.

Police Commission Chairman James Reilly responded that the commission did not want to “create more holes” in the police patrolmen’s schedule by naming a patrolman an acting sergeant. Commission members opted instead to fill gaps in the sergeants’ schedule by having sergeants work overtime, Mr Reilly said.

Mr Reilly said it is simpler to fill gaps in the sergeants’ schedule than in the patrolmen’s schedule.

Mr Koetsch responded that the sergeants have been given too great a workload, adding that they are not being paid much money considering the responsibilities that they have.

Mr Reilly said the police department finds itself in a “special situation” in which its two top managers are in acting posts. Captain Michael Kehoe is serving as acting police chief.

The staffing situation eventually will return to normal, Mr Reilly said.

Capt Kehoe has headed the police department since July 1999, when the Police Commission placed former chief James E. Lysaght, Jr, on paid administrative leave. The commission fired Mr Lysaght last March and named Mr Kehoe “acting chief” last April.

Mr Koetsch said the police had been told that a third detective would be named to the detective bureau by July 1, but that has not happened. Mr Koetsch said the police union could file an unfair labor practices claim against the town with the state, alleging that the town had negotiated in bad faith with police on the matter.

The police department has several people who would like to become the third detective, he said.

Mr Reilly responded that the Police Commission’s prime concern is maintaining a well-staffed patrol force. Patrol officers are the primary investigators at crimes, he said.

The patrol unit must be well staffed to allow police to back up each other on hazardous police calls, he added.

The police department has begun a new round of hiring, in which three people will be added to the department, Mr Reilly said. Police assignments will be resolved when the new people are at work, he said.

Three new patrol officers are expected to patrol town independently by the middle of next year.