The Lowell Sun
Although granting contracts to top management remains somewhat controversial in Lowell, we believe signing a formal agreement with newly appointed Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee is the appropriate action to take.
Lavallee has been with the Lowell Police Department since 1984 and has served as acting superintendent since Dec. 1. The city knows exactly what it is getting with him. There will be no surprises.
He served as deputy superintendent since 1999 and has proven popular with the police rank-and-file, business and political leaders, and residents. Letters sent by City Manager Bernie Lynch to leaders of neighborhood organizations, nonprofit agencies, hospitals and educational institutions elicited favorable responses about the department as a whole and about Lavallee's role as acting superintendent in particular.
It is The Sun's position that, given Lavallee's longevity and widespread support, the city should -- and we expect it will -- offer the new superintendent a three-year contract that guarantees his right to return to his former position as deputy superintendent should the new job not work out. However, we have every expectation that Lavallee will be successful.
Former Superintendent Edward Davis -- now the police commissioner of Boston -- did not have a contract, but he served under Civil Service which offers employees far greater protection.
Certainly, contracts are not unheard of in Lowell. City Manager Lynch's contract with the city was recently extended until 2010, Auditor Sheryl Wright has a three-year deal and Superintendent of Schools Karla Brooks Baehr has a three-year contract soon to be renegotiated.
Lavallee, 52, was raised in the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell and knows this city as well as anyone. He understands the dynamics of the neighborhoods, the impact of drugs, domestic violence and gang activity. He has covered a variety of beats and understands the difficulties of policing a geographically small city that contains 103,000 residents of various socio-economic backgrounds.
Lowell is a challenging city to police and it is a job that will never be finished. Like any urban area -- and, let's face it, any suburban or rural area -- there will always be crime. But those incidents will keep decreasing if community policing efforts and innovative initiatives continue.
We applaud Lynch's selection of Kenneth Lavallee for police superintendent and strongly recommend negotiating a three-year contract that grants him protection from political whims and gives the city a measure of security as well.
This Editorial appeared in the Lowell Sun on Wednesday, September 26, 2007