Photo by Lester Smith
New Deputy Chief Richard Brown, left, and new Superintendent of Police Services Anthony Riello are pictured at the National Night Out, a community-building event originated here by Riello last year. Landing in the background is the helicopter that had been engaged to provide short sightseeing rides during the August 2 event.
The June 30 meeting of the Suffield Police Commission, with First Selectman Melissa Mack present, was the kind of meeting one can enjoy with a comforting feeling. Commission Secretary Ken Pascoe read a half-dozen thank-you letters from citizens for commendable police officer actions. Progress was under way on improving traffic signage in town, and highway speeds were observed to be slowing. Officer Geoff Miner had rescued and resuscitated a two-year-old child from a pool. Expenditures were tracking satisfactorily close to the budget. There had been two commercial break-ins, so everything was not perfect, but Chief Riello reported that the department was becoming closer to the folks in the community, and Commissioner Jack Quinn commented that things must be good, because no one has been coming to the Commission’s meetings.
And then, almost as a matter of routine, a matter that had reportedly been discussed in executive sessions in two previous meetings came into the open and Chairman Kevin Armata moved to create a new Deputy Chief position and appoint Captain Richard Brown to the new position. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously, with no discussion. Brown had been promoted to the captain’s rank on December 9, replacing Capt. Craig Huntley, whose retirement had taken effect five weeks earlier.
The June 30 meeting ended with an hour-long executive session and was adjourned with no further votes. Perhaps business still seemed placid four weeks later, as the regular meeting scheduled for July 27 was cancelled.
July 28 was another story. NBC TV Channel 30 posted on the evening of the 28th that a figurative boom had been lowered. The Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) had sent a July 22 letter to Suffield advising that Chief Anthony Riello’s probationary period would end on July 23, and he could no longer serve as a police officer.
Chief Riello’s many years of experience as an officer and a chief had been in Massachusetts, and to be certified in Connecticut, he would have to take and pass 17 courses. The Chief and the Commission evidently didn’t see this as a problem because he was contracted at first for only six months, far shorter than the one-year probationary period allowed. And when the contract was extended for another year, evidently no one worried about the ending of the probationary period, as the Chief was never expected to function as a police officer. He came to change the climate of an unhappy department and be a mentor, leading in the development of strategy for the future. In fulfilling that expectation, the Commission, the officers, Town officials, and townspeople in general have clearly been favorably impressed.
But the POST’s warning motivated the commission to call a 7 a.m. meeting on July 29, which was attended by all six Commissioners and First Selectman Mack. The Commission voted unanimously to transfer Chief Riello to the new position of Superintendent of Police Services, responsible for the leadership of the Suffield Police Department. Deputy Chief Brown now reports directly to the Superintendent. In the role of Superintendent, Riello will no longer wear a uniform or carry a badge or a weapon. Otherwise, he says he will continue operating just as he has for a year.