LYNNFIELD — Before a standing-room audience at the Al Merritt Center Monday night, the Select Board announced that Acting Police Chief Nick Secatore will permanently lead the department.
With the decision, Secatore has been promoted from captain to chief, succeeding former Police Chief David Breen. He took over as acting chief in February, following Breen’s retirement.
“Tonight this board comes together to make a decision that will impact our community for years to come,” said Select Board Chair Dick Dalton. “In the time you have served as acting chief, all those who dealt with you professionally have known that you were the man for this job.”
Dalton added that Secatore’s experience as acting chief showcased his “broad skill set and that he passed every test with flying colors.”
Secatore said he was overwhelmed both when he first learned he was being considered for the position and later, when he was offered the position.
“My thoughts were of an overwhelming nature, not just because I had been doing (the job), but because now the future is set,” he said. “The overwhelmingness was because I wanted to do a good job for the town and for the people that I serve, the citizenry and the members of the department.”
Secatore said he promised that when he took over as acting chief last February the department would not waste a minute and “it has not.” He highlighted the department’s many accomplishments in the past 10 months, including its efforts toward complete compliance with the new police law.
“We have made all our deliverables and we said we would do that,” he said. “But that is not the end; it’s the beginning in this new age of policing.”
Secatore plans to go before the board with recommendations to fill the vacant captain’s position “to cement our administrative structure” and will submit recommendations for a final new hire from Lynnfield to fill an open position.
“That is the short direction that the department is going,” Secatore said.
Dalton said Secatore was recommended by Town Administrator Rob Dolan on the basis of an assessment conducted by the IMA Group under the supervision of the Civil Service Unit of the Massachusetts Resources Division. Dalton said three candidates were considered and Secatore returned the top score of the three.
Secatore’s rise to the top has been swift. After receiving the highest score on the captain’s test, Secatore was promoted from sergeant detective to captain in August 2020, succeeding former Capt. Karl Johnson. Less than six months later, Secatore was named acting chief.
Dalton’s colleagues on the board echoed his strong support for Secatore.
“I can’t be happier with your choice on the assessment and I certainly agree,” board member Phil Crawford said. “I couldn’t be prouder to agree with this appointment.”
“When I look at you, I see the moral fabric and character that indicates that you are quite simply the best candidate for the job,” member Joe Connell said.
Secatore is a 1997 graduate of Lynnfield High School, where he was a standout Hall-of-Fame wrestler. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran with national-security clearance, he majored in mathematics at Merrimack College and worked as a financial analyst at Fidelity Investments before joining the Lynnfield police force in 2007. He evolved into an accomplished jack-of-all trades, serving as internet technology officer, court prosecutor, detective supervisor, training supervisor and the town’s deputy emergency management director, among other duties.
A former veterans services officer for the Town of Lynnfield (2009-14), Secatore is a member of the Lynnfield War Memorial Committee.
“I’ve known you since you were a little boy and who thought back then that you would pursue a career in law enforcement or that one day you would be named chief of your own department?” Dalton said. “Personally, this evening gives me a great deal of satisfaction to witness what you have done with your life and career. The role of a police chief is more challenging than ever before (and you) possess the attitude and temperament for success as a leader.”
Secatore acknowledged the contributions of past department members and promised that he will continue the department’s long history and legacy as a community-based department “into the modern age.”
