Monday, April 19, 2010

Police Union President Deegan to retire?

From the NHRs Luther Turmelle:

Town officials and the attorney representing suspended police union president Lt. Kerry Deegan are close to reaching an agreement in which Deegan would agree to retire at the end of the month, but would be able to keep his full pension.

And deeper into the article:

A settlement, if handled properly, would help dial down the controversy surrounding the Cheshire Police Department that has raged since last fall’s no-confidence vote.

If a retirement happens, I'm not so sure there'll be much tension relieved. After all it was basically a unanimous vote. And as for what's happening beyond that... ya got me. As far as I'm concerned, I'm tired of talk and want action. Anything short of actual tangible action is meaningless. The Council should take a long, hard look at management and reassess if we have the right team in place. I conclude that we do not.

Tim White

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

April 30 is Deegans last day as a town employee. He will be officially retired after 28 years. Also, 3 other officers should know within the next week if they have been hired in other communities leaving us with 4 openings

Anonymous said...

The problem is the person in the Chief's office. If you read between the lines in the ICMA report, the deficiencies are all top-down responsibilities.

Anonymous said...

This is ridiculous.
Next the Chief will retire and we'll be paying him as well as his replacement.
We need someone who can gain the respect of the rank and file and do his job to serve and protct this town. I don't see the current chief doing that.
You would think that an officer who came up through the ranks would have done a better job then an outsider, but perhaps that doesn't work and we need to lok outside Cheshire for a replacement.

Anonymous said...

The problem isn't the person in the chief's office. The problem is collectively everyone in the police department. Clearly they are not as a group a bunch of team players. Since the place seems so messed up maybe they really are not even qualified to be in their jobs. After all, with the mess they have made - - -.

They are all very unhappy but they are not so unhappy that they leave. Maybe they can't find another position - - -? They are just unhappy enough that they do what greedy labor union members can do. Mess up everything for those paying the bills.

Was the current chief ever one of the members of the very union which has now come out against him? Nothing like a greedy union promoting one of their very own into the very top spot in the organization, especially when it comes to negotiation time.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous April 20, 2010 2:59 PM said...
"Was the current chief ever one of the members of the very union which has now come out against him? Nothing like a greedy union promoting one of their very own into the very top spot in the organization, especially when it comes to negotiation time."

Most of what you have written is CRAP! The current Chief did come up through the Department. However, he is clearly the wrong choice. There has only been one outside Chief and he followed Chief McNamara, the 1st Chief of the Department. An outside pick was the right choice at that time.

The (current) Chief who came from within, does not carry any great amount of weight at negotiation time - Town Hall does. So your speculation that he would "give away the store" to his former union members holds no water.

Meriden previously brought in a Chief from out of state, who turned out to be a living nightmare for them. An insider who is not ready brings another set of problems. So for all of you outside observers who think they know how a police department runs from watching TV or the movies - forget all that. There
are no easy answers!

Anonymous said...

tim in response to 259 wasn't the police contract already settled,,,,,, unanimously by the tc. Also, what has the town done about this mess. I doubt the issue is fixing itself with or without the retirement. It appears like the town is ignoring the issue hoping it goes away

Anonymous said...

3:31 p.m. you confirm the speculation that the chief was one of the union brothers at some point in his career.

It seems really strange to pick a chief to be in charge of a union shop who comes from the union shop. CT municipal labor unions have permeated municipal government to a breaking point.

You are right that the chief is on a short leash. There is still an elected TC needing to sign off on stuff. Of course in between there is an autocratic Town Manager who seems to be a part of the problem too.

It's pretty amazing watching the finger pointing and the name calling. Looking down from 10,000 ft though it really appears that the Key Stone Kops and their management entourage are alive and well here in this town.

Anonymous said...

Why exactly now would he retire? They must have something on him that he would rather not have exposed.

Anonymous said...

Why would Deegan retire now? I'd imagine he'd want to see the issues with Creuss resolved before he left the CPD holding the bag. Something doesn't seem right about this retirement. Deegan's attorney went from publicly stating he would fight the suspension and yet two weeks later we have a retirement?Hopefully it's only a matter of time before one of the papers files an FOI request and the details become known.

Anonymous said...

As I understand the retirement agreement, the investigation will stop and no further info will be released.

Hopefully Lt Mazzini has a better working relationship than Deegan had with the chief. Many issues may be resolved with this change

Anonymous said...

Just curious, did Deegan and Cruess come up the ranks together? Have they always had this volatile relationship?

I find it hard to believe that having one officer removed will solve all the problems there. There must be others who have issues with Cruess.

How long before we give him a buy out?

Anonymous said...

10:34 "Deegan's attorney went from publicly stating he would fight the suspension and yet two weeks later we have a retirement?Hopefully it's only a matter of time before one of the papers files an FOI request and the details become known."

Exactly.......and by retiring it ends the investigation and saves his pension. Any arrest I would think would result in a lost pension. Not exactly sure if that is in the best interest of the town if we want to get to the bottom of what is going on at the PD...

Anonymous said...

"Exactly.......and by retiring it ends the investigation and saves his pension. Any arrest I would think would result in a lost pension."

Exactly. If Deegan were to be arrested he would have lost his pension and benefits.

The messed up thing about this "retirement" is that Deegan has been on suspension for 2 months. He will retire this week. When he retires, the town will hand him a check for about $10,000 for unused sick and vacation time. We just paid him for 2 months of nothing and we are going to give him sick/vacation pay? Am I the only one that sees a problem here? He should be walking away with his pension and keeping quiet after robbing the town residents for this time.