FILE
Shawn Sequeira and Mark Lauretti at a March 2016 event in Shelton.
The man who has led Shelton police for more than a year as interim chief will have the “interim” deleted from his title next month.
The city’s Aldermen voted unanimously Thursday (May 25) to appoint Shawn Sequeira the city’s new police chief effective July 1.
Sequeira has been with Shelton police since March 2015, first as a captain before being promoted when the city’s longtime police chief, Joel Hurliman, retired.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Sequeira said he was honored to have his name put forward for the post by Mayor Mark Lauretti, and for the Aldermen to have voted unanimously to endorse the mayor’s choice.
“I’m very happy about it, very pleased,” Sequeira said Wednesday. “I love working for the City of Shelton and I’m happy that they’d entrust me as the gatekeeper for the police department and the city.”
Sequeira grew up in Stratford, and has a fiancee and two kids.
Prior to coming to Shelton, he was a state police detective, where he was the lead investigator in the case of Sharon Scanlon’s nearly $1 million embezzlement from the City of Shelton.
Before the state police, he worked for the state’s Department of Children and Families.
His salary will be $120,000, but a vote to finalize a five-year contract was tabled last week at the request of Noreen McGorty, who represents the Fourth Ward.
Aldermanic President John Anglace said the board will revisit the contract at their next meeting June 8.
Lauretti said after last week’s Aldermen’s meeting he was impressed with Sequeira’s work to get the department accredited with the state Police Officers Standards and Training Council.
Sequeira said he hopes to see the process through to eventually obtain federal accreditation, which will help the department obtain grants and other aid from state and federal authorities.
