Date: Fri 16-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-officers-sworn-in

Full Text:

Three New Police Officers Take The Oath

(with cut)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

With families, friends and police officials looking on at the police station,

Town Clerk Cynthia Curtis Simon January 8 swore into office three new police

patrol officers.

Taking the oath of office were Dana Schubert, Thomas Candia, Jr, and William

Hull.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Police Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr, and Police

Commission Chairman Robert Connor, Jr, among others, watched as Ms Simon held

a Bible upon which the officers placed their hands while taking the oath of

office.

Because each of the three new patrol officers has a law enforcement

background, and thus already has attended the state's police academy for

municipal police officers, they are able to immediately start their local

police training. In the past, most newly-hired police officers did not have

police backgrounds, so they had to attend the police academy, which delayed

their start of work here by several months.

Chief Lysaght said Monday he expects that after the new officers have

familiarized themselves with Newtown by accompanying training officers on

patrols, they will be on solo patrol by early March.

After they complete their in-house and field training, the new officers will

be assigned to the patrol division as probationary officers for one year.

Mr Schubert, 40, is a Newtown resident. He graduated from East Granby High

School and attended Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) in Danbury

where he studied law enforcement administration. He was a patrol division

sergeant at WCSU's police department until he retired after 20 years of

service.

Mr Candia, 29, lives in Bridgeport. He graduated from West Haven High School

and worked as a part-time patrolman in Westport.

Mr Hull, 28, lives in Fairfield. He graduated from Fairfield High School and

attended Sacred Heart University where he studied criminal justice. He also

worked as a part-time patrolman in Westport.

The three vacancies being filled are those created by the 1996 retirement of

Sgt Klaus Ertl and the recent departures of Patrol Officer Clayton Brown, who

left to become a state trooper, and Patrol Officer Richard B. Stook, who left

to take a patrolman's job with the Greenwich Police Department.

Two police vacancies remain. One is a patrol officer's post which has never

been filled. The other is a patrol officer vacancy to be created by the

resignation of Captain Michael Fekete. When up to its full complement, the

police department has 39 sworn officers.

Chief Lysaght said new rounds of testing and interviews will be held to fill

the two remaining vacancies.

The police hiring process includes psychological testing, polygraph testing, a

physical examination, cardio-vascular stress testing, an interview by the

Police Commission, and an interview by a panel composed of three police

department members, among other requirements.