The town has officially begun its search for a new police chief, with job postings to several state and national law enforcement agencies.
“It is the hope the next chief will be a community leader who will ensure the public’s safety through community policing methodologies, honesty and integrity,” the town said in a press release issued by the town manager’s officer.
The job description says the next chief “must live or relocate, within a negotiated amount of time, within town or a bordering town on the eastern side of the Connecticut River.”
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It goes on to say that the ideal candidate should have a Bachelor’s degree, but that a Master’s degree is preferred. The town also wants chief candidates to have advanced management training, such as through the FBI National Academy, 15 years of police experience and five years’ of supervisory experience, as well be at the rank of sergeant or above.
Salary and benefits will depend on the degree of the candidate’s qualifications, the job description says. It has been posted with the International Police Chief’s Association, the New England Association of Police Chiefs, the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and the Police Officer Standards Training Council.
The town is seeking a permanent replacement for Matthew Reimondo, who took an early retirement offer from the town and officially left his job Jan. 30. Reimondo rose up through the ranks in the East Hampton department to become chief. He has worked here for more than 20 years.
He is remaining in the post as interim chief for three months under an agreement he signed last week with the town to give officials time to find his replacement.
That agreement has touched off a renewed controversy involving the police department, with the police union and a Town Council Republican complaining that the agreement to keep Reimondo on is invalid and hurts the moral among officers.
Reimondo has been at the center of several controversies in recent years that included his job being eliminated in 2010 and then reinstated.
