Montville considers a captain for police

Officials say the new position could help a potential transition if Montville ever approves an independent police department, which remains a persistent topic of conversation.

Montville — Town leaders are pushing to create a captain’s position to serve as the administrative head of the police department, with officials calling for a clearly defined leadership role outside the police union and second in command in the absence of the resident state trooper.

The rank of captain would replace the role held by Lt. Leonard Bunnell, who must retire by September, per state law. Bunnell has received the maximum three extensions to work each year after the age of 65.

Recommended by the Public Safety Commission in a 5-2 vote Monday, the captain’s position will conduct many of the same duties as Bunnell, acting as second in command to the resident trooper in operational needs and handling overall administration of the department. By town charter, the mayor serves as the police chief responsible for labor, budgets and administration while the resident state trooper leads day-today police operations.

Union considerations

Bunnell, Mayor Ron McDaniel and several Public Safety commissioners have pushed for codifying the new captain’s position the last few months. They argue the department needs an administrative head who’s answerable to the mayor but not within the same bargaining unit as officers.

Bunnell, a police union member, said Monday that overseeing officers that are “within your own union membership makes things uncomfortable at times.” The new captain’s role, he said, would eliminate the possibility that future leaders review disciplinary matters “not as sincerely or as strictly” as they should.

“You can’t have administrators in the same bargaining units as the people who work for them,” McDaniel has said. “It creates conflicts and just doesn’t work.”

Commissioner Mike Butterworth, who along Commissioner Mickey Gillette voted against the new position, asked McDaniel whether the existing lieutenant position could simply be shifted out of the union. But the mayor said the union had rejected the suggestion several times.

Officials say the new position could help a potential transition if the town ever approves an independent police department, which remains a persistent topic of conversation.

Last year, the town’s Finance Committee recommended the Town Council begin searching for

a police chief considering Bunnell’s eventual retirement and the possibility of forming an independent department.

In 2016, voters rejected an independent police department in a 1,531-949 vote.

Officials debated the minimum requirements for the new captain role, with Butterworth, Councilor Jeff Rogers and others arguing Montville shouldn’t settle for candidates without at least a four-year college degree.

But the final description of the qualifications calls for a four-year degree or “any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required skill, knowledge and ability.”

“There’s a lot to be said for the school of hard knocks,” Bunnell said. “A lot of police officers have overseen groups with less of a formal education and have done well because they’ve been there and done that.”

Candidates for captain must be certified by the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council or the equivalent within the past three years, and must be POST certified within one year of being hired.

Rogers asked McDaniel the pay scale for the captain job, but McDaniel said it wouldn’t be appropriate to negotiate the potential position’s eventual pay in a public forum.

The proposal now moves to the Administration, Rules and Procedures Committee for review. The Town Council will make the final call on whether to create the position in the coming months.