Suffolk Legislature report: Salvatore Gigante promotion violated police rules

June 08, 2019

[Joel] Weiss said four others who applied [for the position] had one to seven years of experience as detective sergeants, and two to eight years as supervisors. Each had 16 to 24 years of service with the police department.

Gigante has four months’ experience as sergeant. He has two years’ experience as a detective, and 12 years with the department.

Weiss said Gigante’s selection “seems strange,” since “others clearly exceed him in having baseline qualifications to apply, qualifications to supervise in the detective division and tenure and credentials.”

But he said the “big difference” between Gigante and other contenders was that “the ultimate signer of the transfer order was, of necessity, the chief of detectives, Sergeant 1’s uncle.”

The report called the detective sergeant job “truly a plum assignment,” with base pay of $172,000 a year and “huge overtime potential.” Last year, two other district attorney detective sergeants earned $308,502 and $336,708 respectively, Weiss said.

Weiss also said the decision on the promotion is up to lawmakers.

“You are not rubber stamps. Statutes are not meaningless,” said Weiss to lawmakers in his report. “Relevant statutes … are designed to promote meritocracy, not something different.”

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