Police Commission Proceeds With Deputy Chief Position

By Marianne Sullivan
Published on 1/27/2005

MADISON - The Board of Police Commissioners will proceed with its intention to post the new position of deputy police chief within the Police Department.

The commissioners have been seeking the creation of the position for several months. The majority of the board believes that the post is necessary for administration of a Police Department that, at present, has only one non-union member--Police Chief Paul Jakubson. It is the intention of the commission to place the deputy's position outside the union.

The intention to create the deputy position was placed on hold several months ago when the Police Commission met with First Selectman Tom Scarpati, an ex officio member of the commission. During that meeting the commission and Scarpati agreed to hold off action on a deputy chief's post while the commission set in place a procedure for selection of a new police chief.

Last month the commission voted on a selection policy. Now, most commissioners said, they are prepared to proceed with the matter of a deputy chief.

Scarpati, however, has already publicly signaled his objections to the commission's adopted version of a selection method for a police chief. Three weeks ago, at a Board of Selectmen meeting, the first selectman announced that he would send the controversial issue to the Charter Revision Commission for its review. Scarpati and the commission disagree on the matter of who holds responsibility for the chief's appointment. While Scarpati contends the selectmen have the authority, the Police Commission believes it does.

With that issue still unresolved, the Police Commission recently decided to move forward with the steps necessary to post the new position of deputy chief. That decision came only over the objections of Commissioner Emile Geisenheimer, who contended that the department's budget did not have the money to pay for the job, and that it would, in fact, reduce the number of officers available for patrol.

Commission Chairman Robert Cerosky told Geisenheimer, "We have a budget for salaries and wages. We can cover this." He contended that the deputy would be selected from in-house, and likely be one of the present four lieutenants. "The present administrative lieutenant's position will be absorbed into the deputy chief's position...It is important that we set the department from a management perspective."

Although Geisenheimer continued to contend that creating the deputy position would require additional funds, deplete the number of officers now available for patrol, increase overtime, and result in a flurry of union complaints, he argued alone. The remaining four members of the board chose to move forward.