Acting Chief Steve McCarthy is expected to be sworn in Sunday to formally take command of Red Bank’s 41-officer police department, redbankgreen has learned.
McCarthy, right, follows retired Chief Mark Fitzgerald, who stepped down in November after seven years at the helm. Fitzgerald has been burning off accumulated vacation time since then, and officially ends his role as a borough employee tomorrow.
McCarthy said he could not confirm that he would be sworn in at the borough government reorganization meeting on Sunday, when elected officials have said they will identify their choice from among the four police captains eligible for the job.
McCarthy, 46, is a Jersey City native who grew up in Eatontown. Days after graduating from Rutgers with a BS degree in the administration of justice in May 1986, he joined the Red Bank police as a patrolman.
Over the course of his 23 years with the department, McCarthy has held line and supervisory jobs in the patrol, records and detective divisions.
He became a sergeant in 1996, a lieutenant in 2003, and was promoted to captain in June, 2007.
McCarthy holds a masters degree in public administration from Kean University, and in recent years has served as the department’s spokesman. He is succeeded in that role by Captain Darren McConnell.
The chief’s job will pay a salary of $121,634 under a recently approved ordinance.
McCarthy, who lives in West Long Branch, is married and has two children.
