Milford's Police Chief Named By Lamont To Head State Council

MILFORD, CT — Milford's Police Chief Keith Mello has been appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont to lead the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST).

The council, a division of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, oversees training and certification of police officers, as well as a mandatory police department accreditation program.

Last summer, Lamont signed into law July Special Session Public Act 20-1, which refreshed the membership of the council effective January 1, 2021.

Mello has served as an officer in Milford since 1981 and as the police chief of the city since 2004. In addition to having served as chair of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, he has been a member of the POST Council since 2013 and has served as its chair since 2017.

Lamont said in a news release that the council performs the "critical task of holding all police officers and departments in Connecticut to the highest standards of public service.

“The law enforcement landscape has changed, presenting many new directions and challenges for the POST Council,” Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella said.

Also appointed include:

• Michael Freda of North Haven. First Selectman Freda has served as the chief elected official for the Town of North Haven since 2009. He has served on the POST Council since 2013.
• Douglas Glanville of Bloomfield. Glanville works as a baseball analyst for ESPN and has been an advocate for racial and economic equity. He has served on the council since 2016.
• Mike Lawlor of New Haven. Lawlor served as a state representative for East Haven from 1986 to 2011, and as chair of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2011. From 2011 to 2019, he was the Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning at the Office of Policy and Management. Currently, he works as an associate professor in the criminal justice department at the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.
• Patricia Rehmer of New Britain. Rehmer served as the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services from 2009 to 2015. She is currently the president of Hartford HealthCare’s Behavioral Health Network.
• Vernon Riddick of Waterbury. Chief Riddick served as an officer in Ansonia and Waterbury from 1992 to 2018, and has served as the police chief of West Hartford since 2018. He has served on the POST Council since 2018.
• Roberto Rosado of Windham. Chief Rosado served as an officer in Willimantic from 1998 to 2020, as the police chief from 2016 to 2020, and became the police chief of Meriden in June 2020.
• Jonathan Slifka of West Hartford. Slifka has long been an advocate on behalf of the disability community. From 2014 to 2018, he served as liaison to the disability for Governor Dannel P. Malloy, and has worked in the Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services since 2019. He chairs the Subcommittee on Improving Interactions with the Disability Community for the Police Accountability and Transparency Task Force.
• Fernando Spagnolo of Watertown. Chief Spagnolo has served as an officer in Waterbury since 1992 and as the police chief since 2018.
• Jim Viadero of Newtown. Chief Viadero served as an officer in Bridgeport from 1985 to 2014, as the police chief of Middlebury from 2014 to 2015, and as the police chief of Newtown since 2016. He has served on the POST Council since 2018.
• Ellen Zoppo-Sassu of Bristol. Mayor Zoppo-Sassu has served as the chief elected official for the City of Bristol since 2017.