Mayor, police and citizens meet to discuss new plan for cops

  By Arthur Dudney

   Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone‚Äôs new plan for the Somerville Police Department was debated last night in the aldermanic chambers at city hall.
    Ward 3 Alderman Thomas F. Taylor presided over the public meeting that saw citizens and police officers passionately discuss the issue of removing the selection of the Police Chief‚Äôs position from a civil service process.
    Curtatone spoke first and lauded his plan as the best way to ensure a high performance from the police chief.
    ‚ÄúThe Chief of Police must be accountable for the job he is doing. Mayors and aldermen can lose elections. Most people have to be held accountable at their jobs. Why should the police chief be any different?,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄùThere can be no change without a chief that‚Äôs accountable to the Mayor and the people.‚Äù

    The proposed ordinance would create a new mechanism for selecting the Chief of Police, which has similarities to the process for choosing school superintendents. Rather than being determined by performance on the Civil Service Exam, the short list of candidates would be decided by a seven member committee of which two members would be city officials, three members would be appointed by the Board of Aldermen and two members would be appointed by the Mayor. The Mayor would make an appointment from the list, which would have to be subsequently confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. The Chief‚Äôs contract would be for no less than three years and no more than five.
    Officer Bernadette Sullivan, speaking in opposition to Curtatone‚Äôs plan pointed out compromises that were possible by keeping the Police Chief in the Civil Service.
   One possibility is opening up the test for people all around the state; it is currently restricted to members of the Somerville force, she said.
   She argued that the Chief of Police is not a lifetime appointment because he or she may be suspended by the mayor and removed by the Civil Service.
   Taylor said the Board of Aldermen would meet tonight to discuss the issue and could take a vote on the issue as early as the next Board of Alderman meeting Nov. 22.