NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh has not had a permanent police chief in years and now officials are changing gears and recruiting a police commissioner. They also want a part-time chief.
Mayor Torrance Harvey said a national search for a commissioner should attract a larger candidate pool.
“Just don’t have to limit the search to the local area. That doesn’t mean that someone from the local area may not get hired,” he said.
The police commissioner position would not require candidates to pass a civil service test.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler has an issue with that.
“You are essentially asserting politics into policing, and that is the only way it can be read in my opinion. It also deprives people the ability in the system to be promoted. It takes away the rank-and-file ability to be promoted up through the system and become a chief with experience,” he said.
Mount Hope Police Chief Paul Rickard, president of the Orange County Police Chiefs Association, shares the DA’s concerns.
“My question to them is why are you politicizing the police department. Why wouldn’t you hire a professional police chief off a civil service list, which has been the practice for many, many years and is the practice in every other police department in Orange County,” he said.
The salary range for a commissioner is from $110,946 to $123,366 while the part-time chief salary is $35,000.
DA Hoovler questioned how the city could attract good candidates for commissioner at that salary range when he noted police chiefs in much smaller communities in the county are earning far more.
