The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Newest Cromwell cop sworn in
CROMWELL — The town opened its arms Thursday to welcome the newest officer to join the Cromwell Police “family.”
“This is really a family-oriented police department,” Chief Denise Lamontagne said, opening the ceremony.
In keeping with that theme, Officer Brian M. Dean returned the favor by bringing members of his own extended family to the ceremony. They included Dean’s mother-in-law, Carlina Evanoski, and her fifth grandchild, Nolan, the 6-week-old son of Dean’s brother Matthew and his wife Jennifer.
The swearing-in ceremony, which was held in the atrium of town Hall in the late morning, has a slightly rushed air to it, which is not surprising, given that Dean begins training at the Municipal Police Academy in Meriden Friday.
A native of Willimantic, Dean filled the vacancy
created by the retirement of Officer Joseph DiMauro, a 17-year veteran of the police force.
In welcoming remarks, Mayor Enzo Faienza told Dean he was joining “a wonderful group of men and women.”
Faienza was joined at the ceremony by Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore, the town’s former police chief, and town councilors Frank C. Emanuele Jr., Myron P. Johnson and Samantha C. Slade, as well as fellow officers, town employees and by friends and family of Dean, some 30 people in all.
Dean is an eight-year Army veteran who served two tours as a combat infantryman in Afghanistan. He then worked construction. But, his wife Jessica said, “He just felt he was made to do more than that.”
And so at age 33, Dean applied for a position as a police officer. He was one of 135 people who applied, Lamontagne said.
That number was slowly whittled down by a rigorous chain of requirements: an oral board, physical agility, and then, as the pool of applicants shrunk, a background check that entailed both a psychological test and a polygraph, Lamontagne said.
“Officer Dean was very flexible with his schedule, which means he really wanted the position,” Lamontagne told the audience gathered together in the atrium of Town Hall.
After Town Clerk Joan Ahlquist delivered the oath of office, Jessica Dean pinned her husband’s gleaming silver badge on the jacket of the blue pinstriped suit, as the couple’s two daughters, Natalie, 6, and Claire, 3, looked on, transfixed.
Dean was the sole of brevity in his remarks, thanking “everyone who came out” for the ceremony, and thanking Cromwell “for this opportunity.”
“I can’t wait to get started,” he added.
And start he will Friday for a 22-week training course, following by a 10-12 week field training course in which he will partner with Cromwell officers who will help Dean to become ready to begin patrolling on his own.
“This is not something that I ‘always wanted to do,’” Dean said following the ceremony.
He only caught the bug after his brother joined the Willimantic Police department six years ago, and then some of his closest friends also became police officers, Dean explained.