Southampton Village Hires New Police Chief Over Objections of Mayor

After a search that stretched out over the course of more than a year, the Southampton Village Board has named a new police chief — but the decision was not unanimous, with Mayor Jesse Warren casting the sole dissenting vote.

At a special session of the Board of Trustees at the Southampton Cultural Center on Monday night, the divided board appointed, on a provisional basis, Anthony Carter as its next chief of police, effective March 2023.

No agenda for the meeting was posted in advance, which Warren said he objected to. There was a sizable audience on hand at the Cultural Center Monday night, which suggests that several guests were tipped off about the purpose of the meeting even as the general public and the media were not told that a new chief would be named.

Carter is a deputy police commissioner of the Suffolk County Police Department and has a 28-year career in law enforcement, most recently having worked as police inspector for the New York Police Department from January 2018 to December 2021 before taking the deputy commissioner job with the county.

Carter, a father of three who grew up in Manorville and currently resides in West Islip, will officially start his new position of Southampton Village police chief in March — provided he passes a civil service chief’s exam.

At the same meeting on Monday, Southampton Village Police Lieutenant Suzanne Hurteau, who has been the acting chief of police in Southampton for the past year-plus, was promoted to captain, effective immediately.

Hurteau began her career with the Southampton Village Police Department in 1995, starting as a patrol officer and rising through the ranks to her current position. She is the first female police captain in the department’s history, and the first in any department on the East End.

Warren called for discussion on the resolution to appoint Carter, and then proceeded to outline his reasons for voting “no.”

“It’s not going to come as a surprise, but this is not a resolution I’m going to support,” he said. “But I will work well with Deputy Commissioner Carter.”

The mayor went on to outline several concerns he had about the process to hire a new police chief, saying he was “disappointed” that the search committee that was originally tasked to help in the hiring process was not able to “see the work through.” He also expressed frustration that the board did not hire someone off several lists of, he said, qualified candidates who had passed the civil service exam and thus would not have needed to be hired provisionally.

The original civil service list of candidates for Southampton was eventually deemed “broken” once two of the three candidates on that list took jobs elsewhere, which gave the village freedom to hire someone provisionally who had yet to pass the civil service chief’s test.

At one point, the village could have hired someone off a list of candidates who had passed the civil service exam for the Westhampton Beach Village Police chief job, but that list expired in October. Warren added that the board also could have chosen someone off a list of candidates for the open police chief job in Lloyd Harbor.

In addition to candidates on those lists, he said the village also received even more resumes for qualified candidates after a deadline for resume submissions, and he said he would have liked to see some of those candidates given a chance.

“The board could’ve done a bit better job doing due diligence in that process,” he said.

He added that in hiring someone who had not passed the exam, the board was taking a “calculated risk, but one that in my calculation may not turn out okay.”

In contrast, Trustees Robin Brown, Roy Stevenson, Bill Manger and Gina Arresta appeared delighted with the hiring of Carter. Brown, who headed the search committee, with help from Stevenson, declined to comment on the hiring immediately following the meeting on Monday night, but Arresta, the deputy mayor, said, “We have the right guy.”

Arresta, speaking on behalf of not only herself but the rest of the trustees, said after the session on Monday night that the suggestion by Warren that candidates who were as qualified for the position as Carter did not receive fair consideration is “simply false.”

“The village’s four trustees consider ourselves lucky to have Deputy Commissioner Carter lead the men and women of the department,” she said. “We are thrilled by the news management within the department and look forward to working with Chief Carter, Captain Hurteau and the rest of the officers under their command.”

Carter’s annual salary will be $225,000, according to the resolution appointing him to the role. Carter will also receive an additional $45,000 per year during any year he does not receive health insurance or related benefits or a contribution to the New York State Retirement System.

The village offered Carter those terms as part of a five-year contract. The length of the contract was another aspect of the deal that Warren said he took issue with, believing that five years was too long for someone who is “unknown,” in terms of his ties to the local community.

Both Hurteau and Carter addressed the audience of community members and members of the Southampton Village Police Department who were on hand at the Cultural Center on Monday to watch Hurteau be sworn in and to listen to the resolution announcing the provisional hiring of Carter.

“I am beyond excited,” Carter said. “I’m looking forward to meeting the men and women of the Southampton Village Police Department, and I’m looking forward to meeting the community and getting out there.”

When asked about the mayor’s “no” vote on the resolution to hire him, Carter said he would try to keep his focus on his new role.

“I think my job is to make sure that we do everything we can to keep the community members of Southampton Village safe, and address the quality of life conditions,” he said. “I’ll leave the political issues to the politicians. I’m just going to make sure that I come out here and do a great job.”

Hurteau initially had thrown her hat into the ring for the police chief position, but in September she sent an email to the Board of Trustees and the mayor saying that she wanted the police captain position.

Southampton Village PBA President Michael Horstman shared his thoughts on Hurteau’s promotion and Carter’s hiring after the session on Monday night.

“For Hurteau, we’re thankful that she got promoted,” he said. “She’s been here over 25 years and I’ve worked with her as a police officer, sergeant, lieutenant and now captain. She’ll do a great job.

“We’re looking forward to starting a relationship with Chief Carter. He’s got a great bunch of men and women who work for this department, and we’re just looking forward for the future to serve the community with him the best we can.”