Favored sergeant not one of 3 finalists for chief’s job
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Favored sergeant not one of 3 finalists for chief’s job
By J.P. Ellery CORRESPONDENT
WARREN— Three sergeants are in the running to be police chief here, but a popular sergeant who has a lot of local support for the appointment is not one of them.
A police chief search committee yesterday announced that the finalists for the job are Sgt. Bruce D. Spiewakowski of the Dudley Police Department, Sgt. Michael L. Befford of the Spencer Police Department and Sgt. Brice I. Leslie of the West Brookfield Police Department. One of them would replace Chief Glenn F. McKiel, who stepped down in July to become chief in Manchester-by-the Sea, north of Boston.
Sgt. Joseph R. LaFlower, who has been in charge of the Warren department since former Chief McKiel left, applied to be chief here, but he did not meet the educational requirement, according to Donald G. Nickerson, a search committee member.
“It’s not a reflection on him,” Mr. Nickerson said. He said the committee had to follow the requirements placed in the advertisement for chief.
Hundreds of residents had signed a petition urging the Board of Selectmen to appoint Sgt. LaFlower as chief, but selectmen said this was not a personality contest and it was likely the search committee would follow the advertised criteria, which called for a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.
Sgt. LaFlower is not a college graduate, but has 21 years’ experience on the local department, which he felt more than qualified him to assume the chief’s job.
Sgt. Spiewakowski, 42, has been a member of the Dudley Police Department for 20 years and a sergeant for five of those years.
“I would like to move up,” he said, “and that opportunity won’t avail itself to me here.” Sgt. Spiewakowski said Dudley Police Chief Steven J. Wojnar, is younger than he is and appears to have a long career ahead of him in Dudley.
Sgt. Befford has been a sergeant since joining the Spencer force in 1998. Prior to that he was a member of the North Brookfield Police Department for just over 11 years, he said.
He applied for the chief post in Warren because “it’s the right size community, the size I was looking at,” he said, “and I’m fairly familiar with the community.” Warren’s population is about 5,000.
An attempt yesterday to contact Sgt. Leslie was unsuccessful. The other two sergeants were at the police station when contacted by telephone, but Sgt. Leslie was not on duty at the time he was called. Sgt. Leslie has been a member of the West Brookfield Police Department since 1998 and sergeant for just over two years.
Chief McKiel was making about $82,000 a year when he resigned.