LYNN — Police Capt. Mark O’Toole, the top scorer on the Civil Service Assessment Center, plans to appeal Mayor Thomas M. McGee’s decision appointing Capt. Christopher Reddy as the next police chief.
O’Toole said that he feels he was bypassed, citing the city’s history of choosing the top scorer on the police chief assessment. He said he has the experience and knowledge to run the department.
O’Toole’s score was 86. Reddy ranked second on the assessment with an 85, and Deputy Chief Michael Vail, the other finalist, came in third.
The all-day assessment, which consists of six components contributing to the overall score, assesses skills, knowledge and experience through exercises and interviews with a panel of high-ranking municipal officials, including current and former police chiefs.
“They’re the ones doing the assessing and coming out with the scores,” O’Toole said. “We would think that their experience and their decisions are what would make the selection.”
About a week before the exam, O’Toole said McGee sent out an email to the candidates indicating that he wouldn’t necessarily be taking the top scorer, and was adding two more components to the process: a meeting with stakeholders and an interview with himself.
“Receiving that, I actually even considered not taking it,” O’Toole said. “I thought the selection was going to be predetermined and other people whispered that in my ear.”
O’Toole said he decided to continue with the exam and put his faith in the process; in the end, he was excited to come out of the exam as a top scorer.
“I was still very hopeful,” O’Toole said.
After participating in the stakeholders meeting and the interview with McGee, O’Toole said he thought it went well but was disappointed with the outcome.
The police department is a part of the state’s civil service system, so O’Toole said he plans to appeal the decision through the civil service in hopes of getting some answers.
“I think I deserve more after my 35 years, and with my accomplishments as a captain for 20 years,” O’Toole said. “And then I get, more or less, a two-sentence statement from the mayor explaining why I wasn’t selected.”
O’Toole said the mayor called him a few days before releasing the decision to the public. O’Toole told the mayor he respected his decision, but disagreed with it and would pursue his avenues with a civil service appeal.
O’Toole said he also informed Reddy that he planned to appeal the decision, saying that they are friends and he has nothing against Reddy, but that it does make for an awkward situation.
With the appeal, O’Toole said he is looking for answers as to why he was not selected, but does not expect the appointment of chief to be taken away from Reddy.
“Not being selected obviously puts a cloud over me and I don’t think I deserve that,” O’Toole said. “I think I deserve much more consideration for the position.”
O’Toole said he hopes the decision wasn’t predetermined, and that civic duty was done.
To make a successful appeal, O’Toole said he has to show that the mayor’s decision was wrong and that he was the better candidate for the position.
O’Toole, who heads the department’s Criminal Investigation Division, said he plans to make a case based around his training, education and experience.
“I wish I wasn’t in this position. This is something I don’t want to do at this point in my career, but I feel it’s necessary not only for me, but for others behind me,” O’Toole said. “People who study for these exams and put a lot of time into it … I think they deserve better than simply an arbitrary decision.”
O’Toole said the majority of chiefs in the past were top scorers, including the most recent, Chiefs Michael Mageary and Kevin Coppinger.
The only other similar instance to O’Toole’s situation in the past 35 years, according to City Personnel Director Drew Russo, was in 1993 when John Suslak was appointed deputy chief as the third ranked candidate.
If he didn’t score at the top, O’Toole said he would have accepted not getting the position but, he said, this is a different story.
Last July, McGee promoted Vail to deputy chief, as he carried the top score on that assessment while O’Toole had the second. According to O’Toole, “that was fine.”
“I love the city and I love the men and women in the department,” O’Toole said. “I think I do have the experience and the education to be able to be the leader of the department and I think I’ve shown that throughout my career.”
As of now, O’Toole doesn’t have any plans to retire, but said he is really looking forward to using the appeal to clarify the mayor’s decision.
McGee said there were three highly-qualified candidates who applied to become the next chief of the Lynn Police Department.
“Captain Reddy demonstrated throughout the entire process that he has experience working directly with diverse groups and organizations within the greater Lynn community,” said McGee. “As chief, I expect Captain Reddy to build upon those existing relationships between the men and women of the Lynn Police Department and the community they serve.”
