Promotions spur shifts in Westport Police Department
WESTPORT — Despite the recent promotion of two captains, Police Chief Foti Koskinas said the department’s command team isn’t growing, just shifting.
Last week, the Police Department promoted captains David Farrell and Ryan Paulsson to the rank of deputy chief. Koskinas said they were already part the management team.
It comes a few weeks after the announcement that Koskinas and Deputy Police Chief Sam Arciola retired Sept. 30, but will stay on under new contracts to help with the transition. Arciola will be continuing in his role for another year and Koskinas is remaining for another three.
Koskinas said the main goal for Arciola and himself sticking around is to get the new deputy chiefs to a point where they can lead the department. Koskinas said there is no increase in management at the Westport Police Department, but “there is reallocation because of reassignments.”
“The selectman and town management felt that it was best that I stayed a little longer to get the other people in the right positions and get them to the level where they can be the future leaders of this organization,” Koskinas said. “While I have the upmost faith that Deputy Chief Farrell and Deputy Chief Paulsson can lead this police department, because of the quality of guys that they are and their training level, we have not reached into the preparation of budget, the management of the railroad and the management of EMS.”
He said the next 15 months and the rest of his time with the department will focus on running those other areas.
Farrell and Paulsson’s captain positions will be frozen until the next round of promotions, which won’t happen until Arciola is fully retired, Koskinas said. Farrell and Paulsson will continue their captain duties as well as add deputy chief tasks and responsibilities. Some of Farrell and Paulsson’s captain duties will be shifted to Arciola and Koskinas.
Koskinas was rehired as chief under a contract for three years at a salary of $175,000 for his new role. Arciola was rehired as deputy chief under a one-year contract at a salary of $160,600. Neither will be entitled to health or dental benefits. Farrell and Paulsson will have new salaries of $154,000, approximately a $9,000 increase.
Koskinas said what makes the Westport Police Department unique is the vast amount of responsibilities that the department is in charge of. Traditionally police departments handle police and animal control operations; however in Westport, the police department also oversees railroad operations, EMS services and a full-time police garage.
“This is all managed out of my office,” Koskinas said. “We are far from a traditional police department in what our responsibilities are.”
Westport Police takes care of two Metro-North train stations — everything from toilet paper and light bulbs, to the snow plowing, security camera installation and maintenance. It also handles all of the permits, ticketing and any other revenue that comes in for the nearly 2,500 parking spaces.
The department also handles the EMS staff of seven full-time paramedics and more than 100 volunteers. The police garage takes car of all the town vehicles, as well as Easton’s police vehicles.
“There is not a police department in the state or anywhere in the country that we can identify that oversees railroad operations,” he said. “You’re not going to find another police department that oversees medical operations in their communities.”
Koskinas said the railroad operations and the emergency medical services are multimilliondollar budgets.
“We’re not just managing the police department, we’re managing very different areas,” Koskinas said. “Where this becomes important is traditionally here the chief and deputy chief are the people who deal directly with the railroad operation and the EMS budget.’
He said there is “quite a bit of planning and shifting of assignments” for Farrell and Paulsson so they can prepare for and learn their new roles. This will include Koskinas and Arciola taking on some of their captains duties.
“All of the responsibilities are not going to be completely defined because there is going to be a lot of shifting around the next 12 to 13 months as we still have Deputy Chief Arciola here,” Koskinas said.
Whoever is first selectman when Koskinas fully retires in three years will decide the new police chief. Koskinas said that the Westport Police Department typically promotes within its own ranks and he believes that the town will want to continue that trend.
“We certainly hope to maintain that and I would expect that the town department would want that so the future is to give as many viable candidates the opportunity to compete for that position when the time comes,” Koskinas said.