Old Bridge names another acting police chief. How long will he serve?
OLD BRIDGE - A year to the day that former township police chief William Volkert retired, the township has named another officer acting police chief.
Capt. Scott Gumprecht took over the role of acting police chief on Friday, replacing Capt. Joseph Mandola Jr.
Gumprecht will serve in that role at least through Sept. 30, Mayor Owen Henry said.
“One of the options I have as mayor is to rotate captains,” Henry said. “Scott is the next senior officer and he is deserving of the opportunity. The first time I did this it was just for a month and they didn’t even have a chance to settle in their desks yet. A six-month period is a better opportunity to evaluate the performance of the acting chief along with the supporting administration and the department as a whole under his command. What I’m doing is in the best interest of the department.”
An unexpected, but unspecified, personnel issue has stalled the selection of police chief, Henry said in February.
“That’s still the big piano hanging over our head right now,” Henry said on Friday. “I can’t do anything as far as the chief process, but that doesn’t stop me from running the department.”
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When Volkert retired, Henry said he would develop a process for choosing a new chief to lead the department of more than 100 officers.
Henry said he started the process, but it was put on hold in last summer because of a personnel issue, which he could not discuss.
Under township ordinance, captains and lieutenants within the department are eligible for the promotion.
"I sent out notices to all eligible candidates and received six responses back from candidates, who were interested in participating in the selection process," the mayor said in February. "Everybody interested was sent informational questionnaires. Interviews were just about to be scheduled and a personnel issue arose, which I can't talk about publicly."
Henry said he has not yet decided whether the acting police chief rotation will continue after September. He said he is hoping he can get the selection process restarted.
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Old Bridge names another acting police chief. How long will he serve?
