Date: Fri 09-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-police-department

Full Text:

ED INK: Newtown's Troubled Police Department

What a difference a year makes.

In September 1997, Newtown's Police Commission was busy fending off a call by

the members of the police union for the removal of Police Chief James Lysaght,

Jr. Union members said they were upset and demoralized by the chief's poor

management of the department and by the reorganization of the department by

Chief Lysaght and the Police Commission without consulting the union. The

union spokesman reported at the time, "We've been told by the commission

members that we have no legitimate issues. ... All they did was side with the

chief."

Comments by the police commissioners confirmed this. "The chief has only been

here a little over a year," said Commissioner Robert Connor. "I don't think

things would be much different no matter who was in there." He told the police

union that they had "tarnished their image with the public." William Meyers,

commission chairman at the time, added his own postscript to the controversy:

"Time heals all wounds."

More than a year has gone by, and there apparently hasn't been all that much

healing in the police department. Last week the Police Commission officially

changed its tune when its scathing job evaluation of Chief Lysaght was

released. It appeared to pave the way for the commission to fire the chief as

early as next March if he does not meet specific goals for improving his

leadership and management skills.

Perhaps it is not the union but the whole police department that must struggle

with a tarnished image now. Chief Lysaght was chosen from among 118 applicants

from across the country when he was hired in July 1996. In its criteria for

selecting a chief, the Police Commission pointedly excluded one local

candidate, James Mooney, who wanted the job very much. His leadership and

management skills had been proven over and over in a long and distinguished

career with the Connecticut State Police. The Police Commission insisted that

it knew better, however, concluding that Mr Mooney's lack of a college degree

outweighed his considerable accomplishments in police work and administration.

As we pointed out in an editorial in 1996, the failure of the Police

Commission to even consider Mr Mooney, a known quantity with long ties to the

community, was a mistake. Apparently it was just one of a long series of

mistakes that has left Newtown with a demoralized police union, a chastened

police chief, and a Police Commission that is reduced to hoping that time will

heal all wounds ... especially self-inflicted wounds to the foot.

The Police Commission has established a record of blaming the police union for

the department's problems, and now, evidently, it is prepared to expand its

circle of blame to include the police chief. At some point, the commission

might want to consider a little self-examination before it starts the next

round of finger-pointing.