The Police Commission on Monday voted to extend Rilling's contract by two years, until Dec. 31, 2009.

On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Moccia, one of the three commissioners, explained, "We're very concerned about continuation." The department is expecting a high rate of turnover in the coming years, and having Rilling stay on in order to "train people throughout the ranks" is important, said Moccia. The department's deputy chief, Mark Palmer, left in November 2006 to become the police chief in Coventry. According to Moccia, the department is conducting an organizational study, which will determine, among other things, whether two deputy chiefs are required rather than just one.

The high turnover rate is largely attributable to the DROP, which was incorporated into the police union's contract in early fall 2003.

Officers 48 years or older with 20 or more years of service to the department are eligible for the DROP. According to Bill Curwen, the president of the union, officers can work up to five additional years after enrolling in the DROP, provided their total years of service remain below 30, but they cannot be promoted. During these years, the officers receive their normal salaries as well as their pensions, which are delivered to funds controlled by the officers. Once the officers officially retire, they gain access to the pension funds.

At present, said Curwen, 36 members of the department have enrolled in the plan and eight have retired under it. In 2007, three sergeants are scheduled to retire. Rilling, who has been the chief for the past 12 years, was scheduled to leave the department on Dec. 31 of this year, Curwen noted. Rilling has been with the force for 35 years in total, but was forced to "technically retire from the job" after 30 years due to department rules, said Curwen. After retiring, Rilling was "hired back on a contract," Curwen explained, meaning he received his retirement benefits up front.

Rilling agreed that officers participating in the DROP likely will provide one of the greatest challenges for him in the coming years. "Because of the retirements of many key people, we need to develop our executive staff and get people in line to assume greater leadership responsibilities," he said. "We try to put people in key positions within the department and periodically rotate them so they learn to perform in other positions as well. That certainly is critical." The department also is "looking to continue and improve upon" the recently established school resource officer program and the critical incident protocol program, he said.

Beyond the desire for continuity, the commissioners have been pleased with Rilling's work in leading the department thus far, according to Moccia. "We have a very talented chief who is well-informed and has opportunities for funding," he said. "He knows people, and he knows how to work with people. He helps secure funding for Norwalk and helps us work with other agencies very well. We don't want to lose that."

Rilling is the president of the Connecti-cut Police Chiefs Association, has a "great relationship" with the U.S. attorney's office over asset forfeitures and is very knowledgeable about homeland security funding, said Moccia. In the past, Rilling has gotten the department free seminars and training on homeland security issues, he said.

According to Moccia, Rilling's $102,000 yearly salary was not changed as a result of the extension of his contract.

Asked if there ever really was a question of whether he would stay on or not, Rilling said, "I think the commission was aware of the fact that my current contract was due to expire at the end of this year and that I was not seeking full retirement. I'm looking to continue working. They also knew that since the contract was going to expire soon, I had certainly been searching other opportunities."

Rilling said he had been offered a position at another department, but declined to say where. "There's never a job that's more appealing to me than this one."

For the next two years, Rilling said, "I'm looking forward to serving the community, a community where I was born and raised and have lived my entire life. I'm looking forward to working for the best team in the world. It's been one of the high points in my life to work for this department."