The Seymour Police Department was restructured Monday under a plan that Chief Michael Metzler said increases supervision of police officers, bolsters the department’s chain of command, and reduces something called “sergeant shopping.”
The chief also said the reorganization could speed up the process of naming a new School Resource Officer, as well as restoring the position of Community Police Officer to the department.
Metzler outlined the restructuring plan to the Board of Police Commissioners at a special meeting Monday.
Click the play button on the video above to see his initial comments.
Briefly, the chief’s plan calls for a new deputy chief’s position to be filled by the department’s second in command, Lt. Paul Satkowski.
A position of inspector is to be filled by current Detective Sgt. Joseph DeNigris.
In addition, three of the department’s six sergeants would be promoted to the role of commander, with increased responsibilities for specific patrol shifts.
Satkowski’s and DeNigris’ current positions would exist on paper — as would a captain’s position that has been vacant for nearly three years — but under the reshuffling, those jobs wouldn’t be funded.
Metzler lauded the “pros” of his plan, namely that it strengthens the department’s chain of command, provides more accountability and bolsters middle management.
The chief said the three new patrol commanders will put an end to the practice of police officer “sergeant-shopping.”
“If you’ve got two sergeants on a shift, and you don’t like what one says, you go to the other and play one off the other,” Metzler said. “Now the commander will be in charge of that shift and what he says goes and that’s the end of that little game being played in the past.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Deputy First Selectwoman Nicole Klarides-Ditria read a letter from herself and First Selectman Kurt Miller supporting the chief’s changes, saying they promote efficiency.
Most of the police commissioners also supported the chief’s plan as well.
Frank Conroy called it “a good start.”
Robert Koskelowski gave it “100 percent” support.
But police commissioner John Popik, whose day job is administrative captain of the Stratford Police Department, wasn’t convinced.
Popik, the lone police commissioner to vote against Metzler’s plan, said it was little more than title changes.
“For the last couple of years we’ve heard you say that you can’t get certain things done because you don’t have enough people at the command side,” Popik said. “You don’t really have any more people at the command side. All we have here are name changes.”
The need for a better management structure has been a recurring theme at the department.
Police cited it last year, for instance, when officers stopped carrying Tasers for more than a month because the department hadn’t been re-certified for their use in time.
Popik said he’d prefer to see the department add another lieutenant and create “master sergeants” instead of commanders to minimize the financial impact of a departmental shakeup.
Lucy McConologue, the chairwoman of the Board of Police Commissioners, said Popik’s plan looked just like Metzler’s.
“Your restructuring is giving another name to what’s already on here,” she said.
Popik responded that his plan would have widened the department’s management structure and given the chief another administrator that he has been asking for.
Click below to see part of the conversation between Popik and Metzler.
Metzler said the restructuring allows management responsibilities within the department to be spread out over more people.
For instance, as inspector, DeNigris will take over internal affairs investigations, which Satkowski currently handles. DeNigris will also oversee the patrol division and directly supervise the department’s detectives.
As Deputy Chief, Satkowski will oversee the patrol and detective divisions and be responsible for all “support services” — e.g. training, parking enforcement, records, crossing guards.
And commanders will have more input into the department’s budget, the chief said.
“Job assignments are going to be increased, responsibilities are going to be increased,” Metzler said.
First Selectman, Union React
The chief said the restructuring would provide a savings of about $70,000.
But First Selectman Kurt Miller said Monday night that he’ll present a budget to the Board of Finance next month that actually increases the police department’s bottom line about $200,000 year over year.
He said that was to be expected because the town committed last year to bring the department up to its full, 41-officer complement — which will get more cops on the streets, officials said.
“We’re doing as much as we possibly can to try to smooth that spike out,” Miller said.
Miller said the “savings” under the restructuring plan come from moving the money from the vacant captain’s position and applying only part of it to fund a new patrol officer.
The actual raises regarding the promotions (from sergeant to commander, for example) involved still have to be finalized by lawyers for the town and police union, he and Metzler pointed out.
The town is also in the process of beginning negotiations with the union because its contract is due to expire at the end of June.
Miller said Monday the plan was “great for Seymour all-around.”
After the meeting, Sgt. John D’Antona, president of Seymour Police Union Local 564, said the union would obviously wait until all the details are spelled out before voting on it, but that the restructuring “seems like a win for the union all the way around.”
