| NEW HAVEN - James Lewis recalled Friday being often asked how well he sleeps as a police chief, and he said his reply is always the same. "When I've got good people around me, I sleep great," Lewis said as nearly two dozen officers awaited their new badges. And in his two weeks here, he said, the only thing that keeps him awake at night is the din of the bar district outside his downtown apartment.
At a promotion ceremony at Hill Regional Career High School, 22 police officers climbed a rung up the ladder, the latest wave of promotions in a department that has gone a few years with virtually none.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said it was a time of change, not only for the officers, most of whom will be getting new assignments, but for the department as a whole with a new chief.
Newly minted Sgt. Scott Aponte will leave the department's crime scene unit for the graveyard shift in patrol.
"There's a big transition going on and it's exciting to be part of that transition," he said before the ceremony.
James Naccarato starts Sunday as a detective in robbery-burglary, leaving his post as a school resource officer at Career High School. Marc Calafiore returns to patrol after heading a squad in the detective bureau. Herbie Johnson, a third-generation cop, returns to a squad car as a sergeant after five years investigating homicides and assaults.
Since the beginning of the year, about 65 people - more than 15 percent of the department - have been promoted.
At the same time, those promotions have depleted an already short-staffed patrol division.
"It's a balancing act," said Lewis earlier this week, referring to the need to provide the department with the necessary supervisors and detectives without stripping it of patrol officers.
The department has 260 patrol officers, 231 of whom are assigned to the patrol division. The department is budgeted for 343.
While 13 patrol officers were promoted Friday, only six of them will remain in patrol with the rest on various special assignments. Any patrol shortfall will be made up through overtime hiring, Lewis said, until roughly 50 new recruits graduate from the police academy during the winter.
"We're not going to leave any shifts open. It will mean more overtime in the patrol ranks," Lewis said, adding that the promotions will lessen the need for OT in the supervisory ranks.
The Police Department has spent more than $6.3 million in overtime this fiscal year. Even with Friday's promotions, there are still 35 vacancies in supervisory and investigative ranks.
Lewis said, from an operational perspective, the department couldn't put off making the latest promotions until the recruits are closer to graduation.
"That's a ton of people to train, so we need experienced supervisors," he said. "You can't bring 50-some people out of the academy and not have the supervisors in place to train them, develop them and take care of them."
Aponte agreed with that assessment. "Even though I have 17 years on the job, I still need to be groomed."
Promoted to lieutenant were Kenneth Blanchard, a 13-year veteran; Marc Calafiore, with 20 years; and Julie Johnson, 12 years.
Making sergeant were Scott Aponte, Eduardo Diaz, Herbert Johnson III, Makiem Miller, Jason Minardi, Anthony Santarcangelo, John Savinelli Jr., Darcia Siclari, David Sydnor, Rose Turney, Alfonso Vazquez, and John Wolcheski Jr.
Promoted to detective were Craig Alston, Tammi Means, Francis Melendez, James Naccarato, Nicole Natale, Matthew Prinz, and Rahgue Tennant. İNew Haven Register 2008
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