City seeks police chief; launches Web page

By Steve Keenan

Montgomery Mayor Jim Higgins has interviewed four candidates for the city’s vacant police chief’s job. A couple of more out-of-state prospects could also eventually wind up in the mix.

Higgins is searching for a replacement for the former chief, Pete Lopez, who resigned.

“That was totally his decision,” said Higgins, who is in charge of the police department while the chief’s post is vacant. “It came as a surprise.”

Higgins said Lopez felt he needed more time to concentrate on three businesses he owns and operates within the city. “To try to stay after three businesses and work full-time as chief was becoming impossible,” Higgins said. “We were glad to have him for a year; I hated to lose him. If he hadn’t decided it, I wouldn’t be interviewing candidates right now.”

The mayor hopes to have a new chief hired in about a month. “I want to have somebody on board no later than July 1; it may be sooner. I’m being very careful. We don’t want to rush into something.”

In recent months, the department has been rocked by multiple allegations of race-based police brutality that have led to several pending lawsuits. The first suit stemmed from a Sept. 26, 2008 incident in which Patrolmen Shawn Hutchinson and Matthew Leavitt allegedly hit Beards Fork resident Twan Reynolds with a blackjack, kicked him and sprayed his eyes with pepper spray during a traffic stop in the city, according to published reports. Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, also allege that Leavitt used racial epithets and that he (Leavitt) licked Lauren’s neck during an interrogation.

Hutchinson, a probationary officer at the time, was fired immediately for insubordination. Leavitt was placed on administrative leave, then terminated about a month ago, according to Higgins.

While acknowledging that the lawsuits are still pending, the mayor said, “I will say that it was a problem that was construed by outside sources to be a lot worse than what it was, and I dealt with the situation as I saw fit and those officers were terminated.” The officers were fired because “orders were not followed at that time,” he said.

The MPD staff now consists of four full-time patrolmen, all whom are new, in addition to three part-time officers. Joe Burrow, a lieutenant who left the force full-time, has been working some shifts, Higgins said. A fifth patrolman spot is vacant.

The department now includes three former Charleston Police Department officers and an ex-Fayette County Sheriff’s Department deputy.

A move to reduce the number of officers and raise the salaries for those who were hired “seems to be working,” said Higgins.

A former police chief in the city, Higgins says he’s not looking to fill the chief’s job himself.

“I will do what I have to do to keep it together,” he said. “I’m not answering calls or really making any decisions I hadn’t made in the past.

“A city this size needs leadership with the size force we have. Looking for a third job is not in my cards right now.”

Any cases that involve Higgins directly won’t be heard in the municipal court over which he presides; instead, they will be referred to magistrates.

The chief’s salary is in the neighborhood of $36,000 a year, with benefits.

Higgins says, despite the current vacancies, all shifts are being covered. “The people are getting the coverage they need. And the officers bring years of experience with them.”



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The city has unveiled a new Web page, www.montgomerywv.org. It was designed by a local firm, I Site Dezign Studios.

The page includes a calendar of events, information on city officials and the entire city municipal code, among other features.

“Hopefully it will become a site that everybody will bookmark,” said Higgins, who added that work is ongoing on the site.

— E-mail:

skeenan@register-herald.com

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