Selectman Penny Monahan, who worked with Ridberg during her many years with the police department, said that she believed he will do an excellent job.

"I have nothing but respect for him," she said, "and I'm sure that the men and women of the police department feel the same way."

Ridberg was named acting chief after the retirement of Chief James Walters took effect at the beginning of the month. Walters, who used his vacation time to make an early exit from the department to pursue a job in private security, will technically remain chief until tomorrow.

"I'm honored to be here and to have an opportunity to lead the department," Ridberg said. "It's always been a terrific department."

Ridberg, 45, was promoted to deputy chief in March and was widely expected to take over the top job when Walters left.

"I sort of sensed that this was coming," he said, "but just today when they asked me to attend the meeting."

Ridberg said that his main concern in the first days of his tenure would be to strengthen the relationship between officers and administrators. "If officers feel they are being treated fairly, most other problems go away," he said.

There won't be any drastic changes to department policy, at least initially, Ridberg said, because of a shortage of command staff.

In addition to the chief, there are supposed to be two deputy chiefs and two captains running the department. As it stands now, there is only one deputy chief, Pat Chila, and one captain, Michael Pacewicz. With Chila set to retire on July 3, only Ridberg and Pacewicz will be left to do the work of five people. A pending lawsuit over unfair promotion practices has left the department unable to hire another captain for the time being.

"I'm feeling swamped," Ridberg said, "but it's a good kind of stress."

He said that the wealth of experience the department's lieutenants possess will be valuable until command positions are filled in the coming months.

The level of service that the public receives, Ridberg said, will remain unchanged as he takes over the department.

Ridberg graduated from Greenwich High School in 1979 and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1979-83, achieving the rank of sergeant. He joined the Greenwich Police Department in 1984 and has since received several awards and commendations, including the Town Award of Excellence.

He had been considering retirement until his promotion to deputy chief, but now looks forward to leading the GPD.

"You always get the sense that things can be great," he said, "and I hope we can get there."