“They had preferential treatment with Suffern and Halstead,” he said.
Mr. Halstead dismissed this statement as without merit. He said that all promotions were obtained and based on experience and test results.
“Chief Suffern has been trying to instill a sense of discipline in the department and this is being strongly repressed,” said Halstead, who retired on December 1 after 27 years in the department for reasons he said were personal.
Chief Suffern declined to comment.
On a recent Saturday, about a dozen protesters marched through Englewood, as they do most weeks, behind an SUV playing a mixture of gospel music and the song “Glory” from the “Selma” soundtrack.
Rev. Preston Thompson, senior pastor of Englewood’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said the police had forgotten that their job was to “protect and serve”.
“The entire system is isolated to protect its own,” said Thompson. “We have to fight this. They are not going to self-police, so we, the people, have to make sure that we come and protect ours. ”
Mayor Wildes, a former federal prosecutor who participated in more than a dozen Black Lives Matter marches in Englewood, said he believed that each of the city’s 72 police officers, individually, was committed to public service.
“There is not a single police officer who does not risk putting himself in danger to save someone, to help a resident,” he said.
“But for me,” he added, “ensuring that the city’s leadership improves this department is really the task for 2021.”
Lauren Hard contributed reporting.