Middlebury Police Chief leaving

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Middlebury Police Chief James Viadero

Middlebury Police Chief James Viadero, 56, said Wednesday, “I’m not going anywhere right now.” But that doesn’t mean he will stay in Middlebury. On Tuesday night, the Newtown Board of Police Commissioners voted to hire Viadero as Newtown’s new police chief. He will take over the position being vacated by Chief Michael Kehoe, who is retiring.

However, Viadero said he doesn’t expect his new job to start until around Jan. 7, 2016. That will give him almost two months to train his replacement. Since Viadero became Middlebury’s police chief just a year and three months ago, on July 1, 2014, the Middlebury Police Commission plans to offer the job to a candidate who was among the top four during the search that ended with Viadero accepting the position as Middlebury’s chief.

Viadero said he notified the Middlebury Police Commission and First Selectman Edward B. St. John four or five weeks ago that he was entertaining an offer to take a position elsewhere. Although Viadero had gone through an extensive background check when he took the position in Middlebury, another background check had to be completed before Newtown could formally offer him the job.

Newtown has been home to Viadero and his wife, Jill, since 1992. He said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a police chief in your home town.” He said he has a lot of family and friends in Newtown, and he sees his position there as an opportunity to have an impact on both the department and the community.

But he said the decision to leave Middlebury was bittersweet. “The people in this town are phenomenal,” he said, “and we have a great group of officers.” He said over the last 15 months he has seen Middlebury police officers do phenomenal police work, always performing in an exemplary fashion.

He said he was grateful for the opportunity to serve as Middlebury’s police chief, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity in Newtown. “If I didn’t give it a shot, I’d look back with regret,” he said.

Viadero said he brought to Middlebury his experience in a large organization (he came here from the Bridgeport Police Department) and his knowledge of modern police techniques. While here, he stressed to the officers the importance of working with other agencies, and he also worked to clean  up departmental policies. He said Wednesday he has rewritten about 40 of them, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Middlebury’s Police Commission Chairman Frank Cipriano said the next step will be for Viadero to submit a formal letter of resignation. Once he does that, the Police Commission will offer the position to the candidate they have in mind. If the candidate accepts the offer, the Police Commission will present his or her name to the Board of Selectmen for approval.