Consentino wants to promote Farrar to Lt. Here we go again

From the Eagle Tribune;

September 26, 2011
Atkinson chief fights to keep sergeant
By Cara Hogan
chogan@eagletribune.com

ATKINSON — The police department continues to operate under a cloud of uncertainty with another police officer expected to leave the force this week.

But police Chief Philip Consentino said a promotion could convince Detective Sgt. Philip Farrar to stay. Farrar is scheduled to retire tomorrow after 12 years with the department. He also spent 22 years with the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office.

Consentino said he's waiting to receive approval from selectmen today.

"My recommendation has been that (Farrar) be promoted to lieutenant and be given a dollar increase an hour in pay," he said. "If he gets this job offer, I think he'll stay. Right now, the selectmen are requesting him to do my job and the lieutenant's jobs with no recognition whatsoever."

A conflict over hiring a new lieutenant earlier this year led selectmen to pay a consultant, Municipal Resources Inc., $5,000 to study the police department's management. The report was finished Sept. 9, but not released to the public.

Consentino received a copy last week.

Selectmen will not allow Consentino to hire new officers until they at least discuss the report with him at a nonpublic session at 5 p.m. today, just before the board's regular meeting.

Farrar would be the third officer to leave the department this year. Lt. William Baldwin and Officer Justin Paquette left for other departments, and a fourth officer may soon leave for another job, Consentino said.

That would leave the department with only one other officer, William Butler, he said.

Farrar announced his decision to retire in June, just after selectmen voted to study the department. He planned to leave within the month, but stepped up to fill in for Consentino while he was out this summer recovering from open heart surgery.

"I'm doing my original job as detective and the lieutenant's job and the chief's job," Farrar said at the time. "I'm certainly not going to abandon the department."

When Consentino returned on a part-time basis in August, Farrar made plans again to retire.

"By Oct. 7, I'll be left with one full-time officer," Consentino said. "The only other officer left is Butler and I need him to work the midnight shifts. So during the day, if I lose Farrar, I'm going to have to ask the sheriff's department to come down and help out."

Consentino said he's been saying the same thing to selectmen since Baldwin left the department for Plaistow in April. He believes Farrar deserves the promotion and hopes selectmen and the consultant agree.

"If the selectmen go along with my recommendation, he'll stay on," Consentino said. "If they don't, he'll be gone."

Neither Farrar nor selectmen could be reached for comment.