HAMILTON — The rebuilding of the Hamilton Police Department continued this week as Chief Russell Stevens promoted two reserve officers to full-time duty.
Andrew Neill and Joseph Achadinha replace recent retirees Robert Nyland and Arthur Hatfield.
Neill, 31, is the son of former Selectman David Neill. He was born in Hamilton and now lives with his wife and family in Ipswich. He has been a reserve officer since 2001.
He has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Norwich University and has been working as a public safety officer at Gordon College.
Achadinha, also 31, is a Medford native presently residing in Peabody with his wife and family. He has been a reserve officer since 2002 and is currently working full time in the emergency dispatch center. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Salem State College.
Both officers will start with a patrolman's base salary of $728.62 a week, slightly less than $38,000 a year, Stevens said.
Stevens said the hiring process was "completely transparent," and he did not participate.
Instead, senior officers from neighboring departments conducted the oral exams, which accounted for 40 percent of the candidates' scores, while School Business Manager Paul Szymanski proctored and scored the written test, worth 45 percent of the score.
The remaining 15 percent was based on the candidates' résumés, Stevens said.
"It was an all-day process," Stevens said, which produced appointees based solely on their tests and not on any biases.
While the town is not part of Civil Service, Stevens said the decision to promote from within was meant to boost morale.
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