By Dan Moffett
After a spate of hiring in recent weeks, the South Palm Beach Police Department is at full strength for the first time since last summer.
During a period of rare turnover, the department lost its chief last fall when Roger Crane retired after 28 years on the job, and then lost a senior officer when Lt. Nick Alvaro called it quits in February. All told, four positions turned over on the eight-officer staff in the last nine months.
Acting Police Chief Carl Webb, who was promoted from captain to replace Crane in November, has been busy juggling schedules and screening candidates.
“We’re very happy about the new officers we’ve added,” Webb said. “We feel good about our department right now.”
The town’s new officers are:
• Robert Rizzotto, who comes to South Palm Beach after serving two years as an officer in Juno Beach. Rizzotto was a member of the New York Police Department and was working with the street crimes division during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Carol Johnson, who has served with the Fort Pierce Police Department. “I took a look at her application and with her experience and education, she’s definitely going to be an asset to our department,” Webb said.
• Michael Ladda, who comes to the town after working for the Lake Clarke Shores department.
• Steve Kirkpatrick, a recent graduate of the police academy with experience in combating drunken driving.
“Even though we were hiring officers as people left, it became a bit more acute with the retirement of Chief Crane and Lt. Alvaro,” said Town Manager Rex Taylor. “All new officers require a period of field training before they operate on their own.”
Councilman Robert Gottlieb said now that the department has caught up on its hiring, it needs to examine how it patrols the beachfront.
“Whether we walk the beaches, whether the buildings report, we need to start to take a look at beach security,” Gottlieb said.
In other business:
• Nothing’s been rescheduled since the developer of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn, Paragon Acquisition Group, abruptly canceled a workshop for residents on a proposed project for the site.
Taylor said the town has no plans to take another look at the proposal until Paragon and CEO Gary Cohen make the next move.
“At this point in time, it’s all in the court of the developer,” Taylor said. “We have nothing for consideration. I don’t know what their plans are or what they’re going to do, but I assume we’ll know something in the near future.”
Mayor Donald Clayman said he spoke with Cohen after the cancellation and the developer was interested in meeting with the town again. “But there’s nothing to schedule yet,” Clayman said. “We’ll see.”
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