By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — Surrounded by family and friends, two veteran police sergeants were promoted to the rank of lieutenant and sworn into office by Municipal Attorney Kristina Hadinger at the Township Committee meeting.
With the promotions of Sgt. Thomas Frascella and Sgt. James Gill to lieutenant, the three lieutenant spots have been filled. Lt. Thomas Wain is the third lieutenant. Each one is in charge of a division within the Police Department.
With their wives and children at their side, Sgt. Gill and then Sgt. Frascella stood still as their sons pinned the lieutenant’s badge on their father’s uniform. “Ow, ow,” the newly sworn-in Lt. Frascella joked as his son pinned the badge on him.
Lt. Frascella joined the Montgomery Township Police Department in 1996 and was promoted to sergeant in 2005. Lt. Gill became a police officer in 1997 and was promoted to sergeant in 2004.
Township Administrator Donato Nieman said that “nothing makes me prouder than to see them progress to the rank of lieutenant.” He said he became the township administrator at about the same time that the new lieutenants were hired, and they all “grew up together” professionally.
“”These individuals are representative of the quality of police officers that we have in our Police Department,” Mr. Nieman said. “I want to thank them and all of the police officers for serving this community.”
Mayor Patricia Graham said that she, too, is proud of the Police Department and happy that the two sergeants rose through the ranks to become lieutenant. She also praised all of the police officers in the department.
Lt. Wain and Capt. Robert Palmer, the police director, praised the two new lieutenants. Lt. Wain said they bring “an incredible amount of training and expertise ” to their new roles. They are excellent police officers, Lt. Wain added.
“The skill sets and attributes the two new lieutenants bring to the job are spectacular,” Capt. Palmer said. “They will bring an enormous amount of breadth and depth to the Police Department. Policing is become far more complex.”
Deputy Mayor Ed Trzaska said it is “great” to see police officers earn promotions.
“(Township Committee) believes this is our most important task — to support the Police Department and keep the quality up that we inherited, and to meet your needs, just like you are meeting our needs and the residents’ needs,” Deputy Mayor Trzaska said.
