http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-decarlo3oct31,0,5650020.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Eve Sullivan
Staff Writer
October 31, 2004
STAMFORD -- Police Chief Louis DeCarlo leaves office at the end of the week and there is still no announcement about his replacement.
Mayor Dannel Malloy said he has interviewed all of the candidates and must do preliminary background checks on them. He said he will then make his recommendation to the Board of Representatives.
"This is a tremendously qualified team of candidates," Malloy said. "I enjoyed meeting all of them."
Malloy would not release the names of the candidates or confirm the list of names.
Sources say the mayor interviewed four candidates within the Stamford Police Department -- Assistant Chief Frank Lagan, Assistant Chief Richard Priolo, Capt. Richard Conklin and Capt. Thomas Wuennemann -- and three candidates from outside the department.
Sources also say Malloy is leaning toward an outsider.
Wuennemann, a 20-year veteran of the department, confirmed he applied for the job but wouldn't say much more.
"It's a process and I did apply," the captain said. "The city is going to pick who they feel is best to do the job."
The other three inside candidates did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Conklin is a 24-year veteran of the department who heads the Bureau of Investigations and the Narcotics and Organized Crime Squad. He works overtime hours and often tops the list of the city's highest-paid workers.
Priolo is a 27-year veteran of the police department who heads administration and previously headed the patrol division. Lagan is a 29-year veteran who heads the patrol division and spent several years heading the detective bureau.
Assistant Chief John Geter, who heads the department's youth services, said yesterday he did not apply.
After the Board of Representatives gets the mayor's recommendation, Malloy said there might be another step to the process but did not say what that will be.
The new chief will not be named by DeCarlo's last day, which is Friday, so Malloy will have to name an acting chief. The mayor would not comment on that choice, but several sources say it will be Lagan.
"It will be someone within the department, but I'm not prepared to say that yet," Malloy said. "We will make the announcement shortly."
DeCarlo, 61, announced in July he would retire at the end of October after three years on the job. He has one year left on his four-year contract.
DeCarlo is a 33-year veteran of the Stamford Police Department, who climbed the ranks, serving as sergeant, lieutenant and deputy chief, before being named chief in November 2001.
DeCarlo, who earned $110,358 last year, took over from former Chief Dean Esserman, who was an outsider brought into the department after serving as chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department.
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