Southampton Town Police Chief to Retire In July, Helped 'Stabilize' Department: Schneiderman

SOUTHAMPTON, NY - Southampton Town Police Chief Robert Pearce will retire in July, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.

Although Pearce will retire on July 24, Schneiderman said the chief would remain at his post until end of September, giving the supervisor and the board "ample time" to conduct a search for a new police chief.

Having to replace the chief in July, during the busy summer months, could be disruptive, Schneiderman said.

Pearce has served as chief since 2012.

"I think he's been an excellent chief. We've worked well together. He served the department well and with distinction and he has helped to stabilize the department during a tumultuous period, where you had a lot of division within the department," Schneiderman said.

The supervisor referenced a police officer whose job it was to conduct drug investigations, who became addicted to prescription pain killers himself.

"It was a fractured department," Schneiderman said, of the time when Pearce was promoted to chief. "He's done an excellent job in bringing it back together."

Looking ahead, Schneiderman said there are a number of "very qualified candidates" for the post. On Tuesday, he said, a resolution will be on the town board's agenda to form a bipartisan search committee to help in recruiting and screening candidates; the committee will advise the town board, he said.

A 'tumultuous' period in the Southampton Town Police Department

Pearce was promoted to chief in 2012 in a 5-0 vote of the town board, after the retirement of former Chief William Wilson.

Pearce acted in the capacity of chief after Wilson announced that he would retire.

Wilson told Patch the he decided to retire after 18 months as the town's top cop because he had been blocked at every turn from making the kind of changes and improvements to the police department that he had hoped to when he was appointed. He said that a majority of the previous town board members — either because they were financially hog tied or because of internal board disputes — had not allowed him to accomplish what he set out to do.

Pearce was promoted in 2012 from lieutenant to captain, to replace Captain Anthony Tenaglia, who retired after he was passed over for the chief's post. Pearce's promotion to captain came in a split vote, with the Republican and Conservative members of the board in favor, and the Democratic and Independence Party members opposed.

The Southampton Town Police Department has been rocked in recent years: In 2013, an investigation revealed that police officer whose job it was to conduct drug investigations became addicted to prescription painkillers himself, under the noses of his supervisors, according to internal police documents released to Patch and the former chief of the department.

Wilson, who retired after a tumultuous 18 months leading the Southampton Town Police Department, told Patch in 2013 he believed the department failed officer Eric Sickles, who was a member of the now-defunct Street Crime Unit, and no one was held accountable. Suffolk County internal affairs officers investigated the matter, and the Suffolk County district attorney’s office initiated a review of more than 100 cases conducted by the Street Crime Unit while Sickles was purportedly addicted.

Sickles’ commanding officer, Lt. James Kiernan was suspended for six months — though Wilson thought he should be fired — and Sickles was suspended indefinitely. Wilson said he also thought that then-Lt. Pearce, who, he said, Kiernan looped in about the situation, also should have been disciplined, but the Southampton Town Board would not entertain the notion, he said. Instead, a board majority promoted Pearce to captain against Wilson’s wishes, and Pearce was named the new chief to replace Wilson.

Pearce did not return phone calls at the time.

After an off-duty injury, Sickles began taking oxycodone for pain and to help him sleep, starting in late 2010, plus prescriptions for depression, anxiety and sleep apnea, Sickles wrote in an internal police department report. He said that in the summer of 2011 he tried to wean himself off his pain medication, but realized he could not “due to physical dependency issues.”

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