By Steven Fletcher
Staff Writer
---- — The current assistant chief of police in Saugus has been chosen by Mayor Carolyn Kirk to become the new permanent chief of the Gloucester Police Department.
Kirk announced this afternoon that she has picked Lt. Leonard Campanello of the Saugus Police Department as Gloucester’s first permanent chief since May 2009, choosing him over three other finalists who had been forwarded to her by the city’s Police Chief Search Committee last week. The other finalists were Gloucester Lt. Kathy Auld, the city’s current chief of detectives, Anchorage, Alaska, assistant chief of police Stephen Smith, and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Police Lt. Kenneth Berg.
Campanello has served as Saugus’ assistant chief since 2009 and is a 22-year veteran of that department. He supports community policing methods and the use of crime data analysis, according to a release from Mayor Carolyn Kirk.
“His experience is a great fit,” Kirk stated in the Twitter post she used to make the announcement.
The search isn’t over. Campanello and Kirk are now looking to negotiate and sign a contract over the next few days, and Campanello will need to pass background, physical, and psychological tests. After that, its up to the City Council to confirm the Saugus officer as Gloucester’s next chief.
If the council signs off, it will bring the eight-month search to a close before three-year interim chief Mike Lane has to step down in October. Lane, who took over the department on an interim basis from the city’s last permanent chief, John Beaudette, in May 2009, and can only work until October under state pension laws.
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For much more on this story, look to Wednesday’s print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com. Steven Fletcher can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or at sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenGDT
