Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis retires after three decades in law enforcement

AUBURN — After serving the last 16 years as the top law enforcement officer, Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. has retired as Auburn Police chief.

Town Manager Julie A. Jacobson said the town of Auburn wishes him all the best.

“Chief Sluckis has been a strong leader for the Police Department and for the community,” Jacobson said. “He led the department through both tragic and challenging periods. We are grateful for his professionalism, dedication and service to the Auburn community.”

On Tuesday, Jacobson appointed Lt. Todd R. Lemon provisional police chief, effective immediately.

Provisional Police Chief Lemon has been in law enforcement for 34 years. He has been with the Auburn Police Department for 27 years and was promoted to lieutenant in August of 2016. He has served in the role as acting chief for several months, Jacobson said.

“Lt. Lemon has often served as the acting chief,” Jacobson said. “So whenever now retired Chief Sluckis was on vacation or he happened to be out injured or anything like that, Lt. Lemon was very often the acting chief.”

Also on Tuesday, Provisional Police Chief Lemon appointed Sgt. Richard S. Mills as provisional lieutenant, also effective immediately.

Provisional Lt. Mills has been a full-time police officer since 1993 and has been in the Auburn Police Department for nearly 25 years. After three years in the detective unit, he was promoted to sergeant in 2002 and returned to the detective unit in 2013.

Lemon and Mills will serve as provisional chief and provisional lieutenant, respectively, until the assessment center process to select a new police chief and lieutenant, in accordance with civil service regulations, is complete.

Jacobson expects the civil service process to take three to four months and be done by mid- to late-May.

Sluckis first joined the Auburn police force in 1989, was promoted to sergeant in 1996 and to lieutenant in March 2004.

On Dec. 10, 2005, Sluckis was sworn in as the Auburn Police Chief. He replaced William E. Stone, who retired after 30 years with the police force.

Sluckis was the police chief of Auburn when Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Auburn.

On May 22, 2016, Tarentino, 42, died at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, after being shot in the back with a stolen gun during a traffic stop on Rochdale Street in Auburn. He was a patrolman for the Auburn Police for two years and previously served on the Leicester Police Department for seven years. He was raised in Medford and Tewksbury.

Sluckis eulogized Tarentino at his funeral May 27, 2016 at St. Joseph’s Church in Charlton. Representatives from Auburn, Leicester, Medford and Tewksbury police departments spoke.

On Dec. 1, 2004, Sluckis, who at the time had been living in Leicester for 13 years, took over as chief in Leicester.

At the time, Leicester was without a permanent police chief for nearly three years, since former chief Russell J. Drake went on sick leave and ultimately took disability retirement. Sluckis had once served on the Leicester's personnel board and was a member of the committee that screened applicants for the new town administrator.

In a surprise move, Auburn Selectmen Oct. 3, 2005 voted unanimously to offer the position of police chief to Sluckis, despite the fact that Sluckis was just in 10 months of a four year and eight months contract with the town of Leicester to be their police chief.

Leicester selectmen were unhappy about Sluckis' decision to negate his contract. At the time, Stanley A. Zagorski, vice chairman, used the words "disgusted" and "unethical" regarding the situation. Both words were aimed more at the town of Auburn than at Chief Sluckis.

"What I'm concerned about is the moral issue," Zagorski said. "I think that what Auburn did in pursuing Andy, who had been in this job such a short time, is morally unethical and shouldn't be allowed, although I'm pretty sure it will be."

Selectman Douglas A. Belanger said he was disappointed about the departure of Chief Sluckis, but was "absolutely disgusted" with the town of Auburn.

"I guess I have a different moral commitment than these people, who apparently think nothing of coming out and raiding a town that has just concluded a long search for a police chief and put in a man who had already earned the respect and confidence of a department that had long been fragmented," he said.

Sluckis’ brother, John, served as a police officer in West Boylston for 10 years before joining the Tampa police force in 1997, retiring as a sergeant in 2016.

For the last six years, John Sluckis has been a private investigator for I Spy Tampa Inc.

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This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis, one-time chief in Leicester, retires