Veteran Police Officer Agrees To Resign Post Prior To Disciplinary Hearing

By Andrew Gorosko

In the face of possible disciplinary action by the Police Commission, a police officer plans to resign his position on the police force.

Police Patrol Officer Christopher Vadas, 39, said this week he plans to resign from the police department and seek employment as a police officer elsewhere.

Officer Vadas, who lives in town, has been a Newtown patrol officer for the past 15 years.

The Police Commission had scheduled a special meeting for the night of October 17 to conduct a disciplinary hearing on Officer Vadas’s job performance. Officer Vadas had opted to have that hearing conducted in open session.

But after Officer Vadas and the Police Commission reached an agreement concerning his employment status, that disciplinary hearing was cancelled about three hours before it was to have started.

Officer Vadas said October 18, “I’m just going to end up retiring from the Newtown Police Department, and I’m going to seek employment [as a police officer] elsewhere.

“I love this police department. I love this town,” he said, adding that he had never had any problems working with other police officers in the police department.

“It’s just time that I looked to greener pastures…It’s too bad it had to end the way it did,” he said.

Officer Vadas stressed that he has done nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical in terms of the disciplinary hearing that was to have been conducted on October 17. He said that, for the most part, he was treated well by the police department, adding that the police union was very supportive of him in the face of possible disciplinary action by the Police Commission.

“My attorney was able to reach an agreement with the town,” Officer Vadas said.

The police officer declined to say why the Police Commission was pursuing disciplinary action against him.

Asked about the circumstances that had prompted the Police Commission to schedule a disciplinary hearing on Officer Vadas’s job performance, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said October 18, “It was a disciplinary matter. I’m not going to get into details. It’s a personnel matter. It’s a confidential matter.”

The police chief continued, “There’s not a lot to talk about… We have a very strict [policy] of not discussing personnel matters.”

In a letter submitted for publication in area newspapers last week, Denise Vadas, who is Officer Vadas’s wife, spoke of her husband’s good moral character. Mrs Vadas stated that her husband was facing possible job termination by the Police Commission. In that letter, Mrs Vadas urged members of the community to attend the October 17 hearing in support of her husband.

In another letter submitted for publication in this edition of The Bee, Mrs Vadas stressed that her husband has not been involved in any illegal, immoral, or unethical behavior. In that letter, she expresses thanks for the support that was shown for her husband by members of the community, and especially by the police union.

“After considering every option, Chris has chosen to seek employment with another police department. Although this was a very difficult decision, we feel as though it is the best decision for our family’s future and well-being,” she added.