Lynn deputy police chief calls it a career

LYNN – Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Santoro said he never wanted to be one of those officers who was dragged out of office, hanging on by his fingernails at age 65, which is why he decided to retire Friday after 34 and a half years on the force.”There was some logic to it,” he said referring to ending his career at 34.5 years rather than 35. “Besides, who wants to retire in January? I wanted to go out when the weather was good.”Members of the police department along with City Hall officials, Superintendent Catherine Latham, representatives from various city agencies and family gathered to celebrate Santoro’s last day on the job.Santoro said he never set out to be a police officer.In fact, he had designs on being a firefighter largely because the schedule would have allowed him to take over his father’s business. He scored high on the police exam, however, while due to a glitch he had to retake the firefighter exam. In the meantime he was offered a job with the boys in blue.He said when he asked a family member for advice he was told, “It’s a good job. You’ll never get rich but you’ll never go hungry.”He took the job and never looked back.When asked about the highlights of his career, Santoro said there were too many things to remember.”I suppose the biggest case in terms of news was the Second Great Lynn fire,” he said. “My partner and I were first to respond.”It was 1981 and Santoro said police in another cruiser on the Lynnway reported seeing smoke.”We responded and actually called it in as a small fire in a doorway,” he said. “Twenty-four hours later we had this conflagration.”The Second Great Lynn Fire burned like a tornado, cutting through a swath of Lynn’s downtown and pulling in firefighters from 74 other communities to help fight it.As he wound down his career recently, Santoro went back to where he started, bringing in food for the morning shift.”Mornings from 1980 to 1985,” he said. “We had a great group of people. We chased a lot of bad guys and did a lot of work.”Santoro said people like to think there were no guns or drugs on the streets in those days but that wasn’t true.Later he would also work on the juvenile unit, sexual assault unit and spent 14 years as deputy chief. He said what stands out most in his mind about his years of service is simply the great group of people he worked with including what he called the best two chiefs the city has ever had, retired Chief John Suslak and current Chief Kevin Coppinger.”I could always speak my mind,” he said. “They would make their own decision, but I could always speak up.”Coppinger said he came up through the ranks with Santoro and called their years working together “a real pleasure.””For the last 14 years we’ve worked side by side and I think we made a great team,” he said. Santoro also thanked his wife, Valerie, for putting up with his late hours, the many times he wasn’t home, the hours lost to studying and the many, many late night phone calls.Valerie Santoro said she worries a little that her husband won’t like not being in the loop but that he deserves his retirement because he’s worked hard.”It will be different for him but he’s ready,” she said.Santoro said there is nothing about his career or the department that he would change and as the oldest member of the department he has the distinct feeling that he is passing the torch.”It’s a great job but it’s much different now,” he said. “In 1980 we didn’t even have radios for every officer ? we had revolvers, six shooters and big nightsticks.”He said his best advice for anyone coming onto the force today is the same advice he received.”Keep your mouth shut and learn from people,” he said. “Take from them what you know is good and incorporate that into your own and leave what you know isn’t right. Listen, learn and always do the best job you can.”For his parting words, Santoro told the crowd gathered to wish him well, “Enjoy, stay safe and be proud to wear the uniform.”