Seymour Police Want To Bring Back A Second Deputy Chief

A screen shot of a Seymour police commission meeting held on the Zoom platform.

SEYMOUR — The police department is hoping to bring a second deputy police chief onboard soon to fill a nearly year-long gap in the position.

The Board of Police Commissioners during its Feb. 17 meeting voted to create a subcommittee to ​“tweak” and update the qualifications and requirements they’d like to see the department’s next second in command bring to the table.

Commissioners Robert Koskelowski and Tom Bennett will head up the subcommittee, and will work with Police Chief Paul Satkowski and Deputy Chief Roberto Rinaldi. They plan to report back to the full board during its next meeting in March, and hope to post the job from there.

The department had two deputy police chiefs in place since 2018, when Rinaldi and former Deputy Police Chief Steve Prajer were promoted to the positions. Prajer, however, retired in March 2020, after a nearly 30-year career with the department. The position has remained vacant ever since amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Koskelowski, during the board’s Zoom meeting last week, advocated bringing a second deputy chief back into the mix.

“I believe the deputy chief position is needed, especially because the administration has been working at half staff for almost a year now,” Koskelowski said. ​“We’ve put a lot of extra work and issues on them, and it’s in the best interest of the department to hire a second deputy chief. I believe it’s necessary to have three non-union administrative positions in our department. And with all the new state mandates coming with the new police accountability bill, we need to fill this position.”

Newly named Commission Chairman Kyle Kelley said a second deputy chief is needed. He said the position has been budgeted in the 2021 – 2022 police budget.

The position pays an annual salary of $102,667, according to Satkowski.

Koskelowski is pushing for promoting from within the department, especially since the town charter doesn’t require the board to go outside the department if not necessary. Together, Prajer and Rinaldi, veterans of the department, brought more than 50 years experience in law enforcement to the jobs.

“We should promote from within if we have qualified individuals,” Koskelowski said. ​“It helps with the morale of the department.”
Education Needed?

The criteria the department used back in 2018 to promote the deputy chiefs required a four-year bachelors’ degree with a minimum of three years supervisory experience, according to Satkowski. 
There was an interview process with the chief and the former deputy chief, and then the candidates went before the full board for final interviews. There is nothing in the town charter, Satkowski noted about the position’s qualifications, required experience and education.

Koskelowski said the commission has the ability to change the qualifications of the job, and he believes ​“experience on the job should be a priority” over a four-year degree.

Fellow board members, including Commissioner John Duke, agreed. 

“Education is important, and I also believe we should consider adding military service to the qualifications,” Duke said. ​“Military experience should be added to the criteria because I think that’s important when considering the deputy chief position.”

Bennett believes the best qualified person for the job should get it, and not necessarily the person holding a four-year degree.

“Sometimes 20 years experience in law enforcement is more valuable than a four-year degree,” he said.

The department, a few years back, went back to its previous chain of command structure, with three non-union administrators as the top brass — a police chief and two deputy chiefs. Having two deputy chiefs enables the department to have extended coverage, more supervision and increased operational efficiencies within the department, Satkowski had said back in 2018.

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