Police Department Promotes Four

The Fairfield Police Department on Friday promoted four police officers - three to the rank of sergeant and one to the rank of detective.

The promotions of Edward Weihe, Robert Kalamaras and Hector Irizarry, all of whom are now sergeants, and Daniel VanDerheyden, who is now a detective, took place in a second-floor conference room at the department.

The conference room Friday morning was packed with police officers and their families and town officials, and each of the four newly-promoted officers was sworn in by First Selectman Ken Flatto.

"We are extremely thrilled at the caliber of the officers being promoted today," Police Chief David Peck said, adding that test results that determined who would be promoted were all "extremely close" and that Weihe, Kalamaras and Irizarry "rose to the top out of a pool of 25 candidates" for the rank of sergeant.

The three new sergeants will work on the midnight shift, which includes two sergeants, eight patrol officers and a lieutenant on a given shift.

Irizarry, who was promoted to the Detective Division in 2005 after being hired as a patrol officer in 1998, said he looked forward to using the knowledge he gained as a detective in his new role of sergeant in the Patrol Division. "I really look forward to working with the guys. I already worked with them in the past, and it's an honor to work with them in the future," he said.

Irizarry said the case that most stands out in his mind during his years as a Fairfield Police Officer was the May 2008 murder of Kyle Schneider, a 17-year-old Fairfield resident who was found shot to death at his home on Congress Street in Fairfield.

The case remains unsolved, but Irizarry said the investigation into Kyle's murder remains open. "It doesn't mean because I'm a sergeant [and no longer a detective] that I won't continue working on it. I'll continue working on it and look forward to having a successful conclusion to that case," he said.

Peck said Irizarry, who handled narcotics and vice operations in conjunction with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and State Police, received a Letter of Commendation for assisting in the takedown of a major drug operation in Bridgeport that led to the arrests of more than 50 narcotics traffickers and the seizures of automatic weapons and substantial quantities of illegal narcotics.

Irizarry said he would miss law enforcement officers inside and outside the Fairfield Police Department that he worked with as a detective and that his attitude toward the job would remain the same. "The bottom line is I'm out there every day, giving the community 150 percent in a career I have a great, tremendous passion for," he said.

Kalamaras, hired in 2000 and a member of the department's Motorcycle Unit for nine years, said he enjoyed working as a motorcycle officer because he was out in the community to a greater extent than he would have been driving a patrol car.

"Being in the Motorcycle Unit is a good opportunity to work with the community. It's a little more open environment. People feel a little more comfortable approaching the motorcycle. That was kind of my forte," he said.

Kalamaras, who also is a member of the department's Dive Team and Emergency Services Unit, has two brothers who are police officers - Chris Kalamaras is with the West Hartford Police Department and Tom Kalamaras is a member of the Norwalk Police Department.

Weihe, hired nearly eight years ago by the Fairfield Police Department and a former teacher, was the school resource officer at Fairfield Ludlowe High School in his first year at the department and then served as a patrol officer, Peck said.

"I helped them design the school resource officer program over there and established protocols for police response in the schools," Weihe said.

Weihe said he also enjoyed working as a patrol officer on the day shift, which went from mid-morning to late afternoon.

"I was very happy in patrol. I thought it was exciting," Weihe said. "I liked how every day was something new; every 10 minutes could be something new."

Weihe said he was the first police officer in Connecticut to arrest a suspect on a strangulation charge that was recently approved in state statutes due to the violent nature of many domestic incidents.

Weihe said he had responded to a domestic violence call in 2008 that involved a woman and her ex-boyfriend and that the strangulation charge was one of many charges on which the ex-boyfriend was arrested and convicted.

"They had just initiated this new specific strangulation charge. That happens a lot and they wanted to make that a separate offense," he said.

Weihe said he planned to spend most of his time as a patrol sergeant in the field.

VanDerheyden, who served for six years in the U.S. Marine Corps before he was hired by the Fairfield Police Department in 1999, said he worked with outstanding officers and was looking forward to working in the Detective Division.

VanDerheyden returned to the Police Department last spring after serving a two-year special assignment with the State Police's Statewide Narcotics Task Force and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Peck said.

When he was on assignment with the FBI, VanDerheyden was involved in large-scale narcotics investigations and received a U.S. Attorney's Award for a wiretap investigation that led to the arrest of 22 gang members and their associates, Peck said.

VanDerheyden also received an Honorable Service Award for his work with the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Peck said.

In the Fairfield Police Department, VanDerheyden served as a firearms instructor and member of the department's Emergency Services Unit and is a member of the department's Honor Guard.

Peck said the promotion of the four officers today resulted in four entry-level openings in the department.