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Friday, April 06, 2012

Smoke Signals Reveal a Chief With Little Support From His Indians


"Indian"


      An outdated picture of Westfield Police Captain David Wayman from his Clark H.S. yearbook has the caption "Indian" underneath.  The photo of Wayman, a member of the Clark High School Marching Band, beckons the catchy phrase from the hit movie franchise "American Pie" where Hollywood actress Alyson Hannigan's band geek character Michelle coined the phrase, "This one time at band camp........ "  Could Wayman have uttered the words, "This one time at band camp I had a dream I'd be chief one day."
The Gildea Way
     Its only a matter of time before the confines of the corner office located in the basement of Westfield's administration building at 425 E. Broad St. becomes occupied by Westfield's next police chief.  After weeks of speculation since outgoing police chief John Parizeau announced he would be leaving, sources have confirmed that Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea will recommend police captain David Wayman to become Westfield's next police chief. 
     Some are asking why 36 year police veteran Captain Cliif Auchter is being passed over again, for a third time, and not being chosen to become Westfield's lead law enforcement official.

Gildea
      In 2005, when Bernard Tracy left town, town officials had two candidates to chose from, however one of those candidates, John Parizeau, opted out of the selection process.  Since that left Town Administrator Jim Gildea with only one candidate, Cliff Auchter, a candidate that TFoTM has learned Gildea had personal issues with, Gildea opened the testing process to not only captains, but also to the department's lieutenants.  Parizeau was coaxed into rejoining the process and went on to become Westfield's police chief despite the recomendations of professionals and other experts involved in the selection process.  After a recommendation was made to the Town, town officials decided to hold their own interview of the candidates.  Were these interviews by town officials a way of manipulating the order that the candidates had been ranked before town officials meddled in the process?

     A receipt for services costing taxpayers $7500 (shown below) by The Institute for Forensic Psychology in Oakland N.J. indicates that four lieutenants were part of the 2005 police chief selection process along with two captains.  Their names appear on the receipt below.  Passed over for police chief were candidates like Frank Brunelle, a 30+ year veteran of the police department that had served in every capacity of the department: patrolman, detective, detective sergeant, lieutenant, detective lieutenant.  Other candidates such as Cliff Auchter and Jim Schneider were overlooked.  Instead, John Parizeau, a police officer that had never supervised a single patrolman during his entire career, was chosen by town officials.  Parizeau was removed from road patrol early in his career, Westfield High School lost it's own unofficial personal police officer.  He spent nearly 20+ years as the departments information technology officer rising through the ranks the unconventional way in the eyes of officers that worked the street paying their dues directing traffic, issuing motor vehicle tickets, making arrests, working nights and weekends.

     With Parizeau's retirement scheduled for later on this summer (August), town officials had plenty of notice to conduct a fair, impartial, and unbiased process for its next police chief.  That does not seem to be the case.  The transparency in government that Mayor Skibitsky preaches is selective at best.  Only when transparency benefits the Mayor or other town officials, will the window looking into town government be open with shades and curtains eliminated.
     Sources have indicated that Captain Cliff Auchter has elected to seek retirement leaving town officials with one candidate to replace the retiring Parizeau......Captain Dave Wayman.  Why wasn't the process, this time, open to lieutenants as was the case in 2005?  Is it because Jim Gildea and Mayor Skibitsky got who they wanted?  Is it because officers currently holding the rank of lieutenant such as Christopher Battiloro, Edward Maguire, Nicholas Norton, and Scott Rodger posed a significant threat to Wayman had a legitimate testing process taken place and been administered by an independent agency?  Would a fair and unbiased testing process posed a threat to Gildea's desire to promote Wayman?
     There are those within the police department that have stated that any one of the aforementioned lieutenants would have presented themselves as a much more qualified, respected, and deserving candidate based on education, training, knowledge, and experience. TFoTM challenges anyone to refute this observation.
Loughlin
     Why was the current police chief selection process deemed an internal personnel matter by 4th Ward Councilman Keith Loughlin when past selection processes have been ostensibly open and transparent?  What were town officials trying to hide?
     Did Westfield Town Administrator Jim Gildea manipulate the police chief selection process, once again, as has been alleged to of occurred during the last selection process?
     By not including current lieutenants in the recent chief of police selection process, TFoTM emphatically concludes: YES. 
     Town Administrator Jim Gildea is a self preservationist.  What better way to preserve his own job by promoting a candidate that has close ties to the "Pandora's Box" of the Bernard Tracy administration. 
     Captain David Wayman can potentially serve as Westfield's police chief for the next 19 - 20 years until the mandatory retirement age of 65.  He will also have the opportunity to set the course of the department by promoting officers as a result of the vacuum left with his promotion and Auchter and Parizeau's retirements.  Up for grabs will be two coveted captains positions that are not tested for but appointed by the sitting police chief.  Those promotions will allow two new lieutenants to be selected and two sergeants. 
     One officer quoted by TFoTM that wishes to remain anonymous due to fears of retaliation stated, "Look at the bright side of this tainted promotion, at least there will be movement within the ranks."
     Then again, those promotions, at the lower ranks, have had a history of being manipulated by the office of the Chief of Police.

TFoTM wishes the hard working dedicated men and women of the Westfield Police Department the best of luck as they are led into the future by circumstances beyond their control.

23 comments:

  1. You are 100 percent right in your assessment. This is no good for the department.

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  2. Once again you "hit the nail on the head". The one thing I love about this blog is you're not afraid to say what many of us are thinking. Hopefully the council will overrule the administrator but I doubt it. The least they could do is ask the same questions you ask.

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  3. Wayman and Gildea have at least one thing in common, the both got to where they are because no one else was considered for their respective positions.

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  4. All the more reason this town MUST go to the outside for its next chief. Why would we consider ANYONE from the inside when it stinks so bad inside?

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  5. Why just internal considerations. No external posting of positions?

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    1. Good question....whenever the town has openings for employement there is always notices posted withing the building and in the newspaper.....guess they are relying on past practices to defend themselves....however past practice has been to open up the Chiefs position to LT's and above.....how about that Jim.....afraid your pet wont score high enough....who will he cheat off this time?????or are the answers on the ceiling like the Kasko hearing.....

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  6. .........or more recently the ceiling staring that went on at the O'Keefe grievance hearing. Wayman "mis-spoke" or in other words he lied about soliciting electrical work to be done at his house in exchange for a gold detective badge.

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  7. It is obvious that we need to clean house in the police station. Chiefs and indians need to be cleaned out. How can we trust that you have the community's safety at heart with all this bitterness, anger and dirt?

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    1. Clean house in the police station? How about cleaning house in the administrators office. Instead of cleaning up the department all he has done is cover up. Cover up corrupt police chiefs that he was working side by side with. He can't put his foot down on anything because of alliances he has with Tracy, Parizeau, Wayman, Rowe, and Morgan. They have the dirt on jim so he has to do what they tell him to do. He doesnt run the town, the police chief does.

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    2. I include BOTH the administration and the police force. The dirt rises to the top. Both administratio AND officers are complicit in this and when they get caught, they rat each other out.

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  8. What you call bitterness, anger, and dirt, I call insight, concern, and reality. You have every right to disagree with what you read. I challenge you to refute the facts and or observations stated.

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    1. Mr Kasko, you are the perfect example of what I mean.

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  9. Before the town council votes on the administrators recommendation they must consider that they will be long gone from town politics and their decision will have a long lasting effect on Westfield.

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  10. Here is a little triva for the cousel to consider.....what did Dave do prior to becoming a cop.....lets see he sat in the back of an amored car and carried coins into a building.....now lets look at what others have done...Cassidy was a successful business man prior to becoming a cop.....necessary skills for being an administrator.....McGuire worked in the private sector and was successful...so he knows how to manage....and Dave well if he needs an answer he can always stare at the ceiling.

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  11. The Chief Law Enforcement Officer by Statute is the County Prosecutor. This Prosecutor has gone dark due to his own personal and professional issues and the State AG having their own issues of the replacement for this UCPO.

    The Westfield Police department under Chief Moran was a model for many municipal departments in the state. This was also due to the superb leadership of the UCPO under Stamler, Murphy and Rutoulo.

    This will be an interesting summer - interesting indeed.

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  12. The supreme ruler takes over the police department today. Remember, hats on car stops and if you want a promotion learn a trade that benefits Wayman's home improvement plan. Cough cough sneeze sneeze, I feel a sick day, many on the way.

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  13. Just remember boys......according to the towns handbook if the surpreme ruler demands a doctors note pay the bill yourself then give it to the department for reimbursement ......

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  14. Should be interestingWednesday, April 11, 2012

    Has Nicole begun to move into Robins office yet.....or is Joey getting that job.....

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  15. Once again this website was on the money with what went down that got Wayman appointed chief. Everyone in the department knows that Wayman had no chance against the lieutenants and thats why Gildea didn't open it up to them. Enjoy drinking in celebration with the chief, Jim. Just be careful not to drink too much.

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  16. Today gives a whole new meaning to D-Day. If only it were April 1 we could all assume it to be an April fools day joke. Got a glimpse of what this guy is going to be like. He was all over the radio last night dictating what to do at a fire scene. Dave, leave the supervising up to the supervisors and go to a go-go bar or something. The department will run much smoother without you micromanaging.

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  17. Kneel before Chief Zod

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  18. Piece of advice to anyone wanting to become police chief, cheat on your wife, beat on defenseless minorities, screw your friends on the department, act like you're beyond reproach, steal from the town, and last but not least, don't ever pee in to a cup when asked to provide a urine sample.

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  19. WPD promotions are now up for sale!

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