Short One Officer, Police Look to Board to Approve Hire

Port Chester's trustees are expected to approve the hiring of a new police officer at their next meeting.

The board heard from Chief Joseph Krezeminski last week. A few minutes after they were sworn in, the new trustees quizzed Krezeminski on the police budget and asked for more time to review the details of the hiring, which would send a candidate to Westchester's police academy starting Aug. 3.

"I'm concerned about the budgetary constraints and the quickness of why this has to happen today," said Republican Saverio Terenzi.
 
New academy classes begin only twice a year, and they run for five months. Candidates must be prepped before they're sent off -- after submitting to a drug test and background investigation, they're outfitted with equipment they'll need during their 20 weeks at the academy.

The village is bound by law to approve the hiring before the department can order the drug test and background investigation. The chief was asked if a delay until the July 19 meeting would jeopardize the chances of getting the potential new officer to the academy on time.

"It would be tighter, but it definitely could be done," Krezeminski said.

The position is already budgeted for 2010, Krezeminski pointed out -- the new officer would replace Det. Michael Gaj, who committed suicide on May 20. The passing of Gaj, who was well-liked among fellow officers, further strained a department dealing with already-depleted manpower.

"Not that long ago we were at 66, we're down to 60 on the roster, with two pending retirements," said Capt. John Telesca. "We'll be at 58 at some point this calendar year."

Krezeminski said candidate Michael Giandurco would earn $46,000 as a new officer -- less than half the salary paid to Gaj, who had been with the department for more than three decades. Giandurco has a masters degree in education and was among a handful of top scorers in a pool of about 6,000 applicants who took the police civil service exam, the chief said.

Democrat Luis Marino was the only trustee to vote against delaying the decision until July 19.

"We're short one guy already, then we'll turn around and we'll have two or three positions to fill up," he said. "The gentleman's qualified."