BPD holds promotion and appointment ceremony

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Police Department promoted 10 officers and appointed 14 new officers at a ceremony held at St. Thomas Church on Friday, Jan. 26.

Lts. Gary Peters and Vincent Kearney were promoted to the rank of captain. Peters, formerly in charge of special operations, will now be commander of patrols. Kearney, who headed special investigations, is now commander of administration.

Sgts. Michael Moleski, Thomas Icolari and Naomi Zepeda were promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Moleski becomes patrol platoon commander; Icolari becomes commander of internal affairs; and Zepeda replaces Peters in special operations.

Detectives Jeffrey Alfonso and Chad Smith and Officers Dominick Sodano and George Bambera were promoted to the rank of sergeant.

Capt. Sean Schwinn was promoted to deputy chief, reinstating the position for the first time since 2005. Public Safety Director Sam DeMaio said in an interview that the position will provide another level of accountability between the captains and himself.

DeMaio also provided a breakdown of the BPD. There are 125 police officers of which eight are women. The department has one deputy chief, three captains, 11 lieutenants and 22 sergeants.

The sergeants are the first line of supervision; lieutenants are middle managers and command platoons; and the captains run the detective, administration and patrol bureaus.

The newly appointed officers are: Eric Capito, Michael Cumming, Tyler Ferrentino, Daniel Freid, Jonathan Heussler, Jeffrey Koeck, Suzanne Looges, Patrick Nimer, Godson Noel, Bartosz Piatkowski, Joseph Rivera, Justin Smith, Damian Sorrentino and Ryan Vogel.

Apprising the department during his three-year tenure, DeMaio said it has changed by leaps and bounds. He said a supervisor’s retreat, most likely at the Essex County Police Academy facility, will take place March 5, with speakers from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
“We’ll discuss where we are moving forward,” he said.

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