Mayor seeks to Allow External Candidates for Chief of Police

By Adam Swift

Mayor Patrick Keefe is requesting the city council change the procedure for how the city hires its police chief, allowing it to hire candidates from outside the Revere Police Department.

Monday night, Keefe addressed the council about his request that section 3 of Chapter 102 of the Acts of 2001 be repealed in its entirety. That section requires that the city hire a police chief from within the department, and that the candidate be a captain or a lieutenant with at least five years in that position.

At Monday night’s council meeting, leadership from the police department’s superior officers’ union voiced its opposition to the repeal of the requirements. Several city councillors also expressed their concerns about the mayor’s request.

Council President Marc Silvestri moved the request to a future meeting of the council’s legislative affairs subcommittee.

“As always, in everything we do and everything I try to do, we want to do it with the utmost respect ensuring that we are professionalizing and bringing in nothing but the best for the city,” said Keefe. “That doesn’t change when it comes to one of the most important departments in our community.”

As Revere continues to grow, Keefe said he wants to make sure the process for hiring a police chief is professional, rigorous, and competitive.

“This doesn’t mean that we would go outside of the department just because of it,” said the mayor. “We would continue to have a vigorous internal candidate process and allow external candidates to apply. As we all know, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and when you work in a competitive setting, the person who is competing against you is going to bring you up another level.”

Police Chief David Callahan is currently under contract with the city, but Keefe said when there is a need to fill the position again, allowing for external candidates as well as internal candidates will help ensure the city has the best police chief possible.

Keefe noted that as with all of his appointments, the city council will still need to approve anyone he appoints as police chief.

The mayor also said the move will help to reduce politicalization of the chief position.

“As a resident of the city for over 21 years, I’ve continued to witness our police department be polarized for political candidates,” said Keefe. “As a matter of fact, I think most of them have been used by political candidates, and I’m trying to end that, I’m trying to create a much more truthful process that is rigorous to again bring the most qualified candidate to represent all of us.”

Police Sgt. Dennis Hickey, the vice president of the Revere Police Superior Officers’ Association, said he believes the mayor has the department’s best interests in mind, but that the union doesn’t believe it is the right move for the department.

“We have 33 members of our Superior Officers’ Union who compose a body of more than eligible candidates,” said Hickey.

Hickey also noted that the unions and the officers have not had a lot of time to digest the mayor’s proposal.

Ward 6 Councillor Chris Giannino, a retired member of the police department, said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea, but that he thinks the timing is off.

“I think the timing is wrong on it being at the end of a chief’s contract and deciding to renew it or not and then all of the sudden changing the rules mid-game,” he said.

Giannino said he would like to have more discussion with the police unions about the proposal and discuss it at a later date.

Keefe said he agreed that the timing was difficult, but that the city is trying to be proactive in case there is a need for a succession plan at chief.

“We have a current police chief who is under contract, and I do not want to discount that he is a very fine man,” said Keefe. “He may renew his contract, he may decide he doesn’t want to do this anymore, he may get picked up by another department, because most cities and towns take people from other cities. But we want to have it at the ready if and when we do need that.”

Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro said he is not in favor of removing the requirement that the chief needs to be a Revere officer.

“The thought of having someone from outside the city to run our city makes me uncomfortable,” he said, adding that it could also be bad for the morale of the department.

However, Cogliandro said he would not be opposed to removing some of the rank requirements currently included in the police chief hiring process.

Keefe reiterated that his request would allow for interviews of external candidates, there would still likely be a preference for internal candidates.

“I believe we should talk more about this because the department should have more time to digest it and sit with the mayor and take the pieces they approve of and like and move forward if they agree to do so,” said Silvestri.

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