Darien police Capt. Gary Pavia, commander of the “field services bureau” which includes the patrol division and detective division, has retired from the department with the reluctant approval of the Police Commission.
Darien Police Capt. Gary Pavia, whose request for retirement was accepted Wednesday by the Police Commission. (Darien Police Dept. photo)
The commission on Wednesday also accepted the retirement of Officer John Murphy, effective Feb. 26, and later went into executive session to discuss unspecified personnel matters.
“Gary, we are going to miss you a great, great deal — absolutely,” commission Chairman Paul Johnson told him at the board’s meeting. “I mean, you’ve just been so helpful to the commission, to everybody in the department, and, obviously, we wish you all the best.”
Pavia, a veteran of the department with three and a half decades of service, is one of only two captains in the ranks (the other is Capt. Don Anderson).
When the matter of “requests for retirements” came up on the agenda, board member Tom Joyce joked, “Can we say no?”
Johnson also joked a bit about the retirement, underlining his regret that Pavia was leaving: “Now what happens if nobody makes a motion to accept? What happens? You just don’t show up?”
After some laughter, Pavia said, “I haven’t thought about that.”
Johnson finally said, “I’ll make the motion to approve of Gary’s retirement, with great regrets.” The motion then passed, 3-0.
The department website describes the patrol division as “the backbone of the Darien Police Department. Of the Department’s authorized strength of 51 sworn officers, 39 uniformed officers are assigned to the Patrol Division.”
Pavia also supervised the detective division, including youth services detectives, the emergency response team, traffic division.
Hiring a new officer
The department, recently at full staff, has already announced it has an opening for a new police officer.
Here’s the announcement on the department’s website:
The Darien Police Department is now hiring. We are accepting applications from full time certified Connecticut police officers. Candidates must have maintained their certification for a minimum of two consecutive years and must have earned a minimum of 30 credits from an accredited college or university. No visible tattoos while in uniform. A copy of their diploma or academic transcript(s) must be attached to their application at time of submission. Testing includes: written test, oral interview(s), background investigation, psychological, polygraph and physical exam.
Certified Police Officer Application For Employment
Please contact Sgt. Robert Shreders at (203) 662-5315 for further information.