NEWINGTON - For the first time in 12 years--and only the fourth time in 35 years--Newington will have a new police chief.

       They just don’t know who, yet.

       On December 26, current Chief Richard Mulhall will retire, and a member of the Newington Police Department will step in to fill his shoes until Town Manager John Salomone finds a permanent replacement.

       Mulhall has headed the department since he came to Newington, the last stop of his 43-year law enforcement career, in 2002. He was honored at the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting.

       â€�"I’ve enjoyed serving the citizens of Newington,” Mulhall said at the meeting. â€�"It’s a great community-great support. You have a great group of [officers] working here in Newington. I enjoy coming to work every day with them.”

       The hiring process, which Salomone said will take a few months, has already begun. Although the news was made public last week, both Mulhall and Salomone have known that this was coming. Salomone has been speaking with a number of unnamed candidates for the position.

       â€�"We don’t do this too often,” he said. â€�"There have been three chiefs in the past 35 years. We have very capable individuals who have expressed interest in applying for the police chief’s position.”

       During the meeting, one resident requested that he consider candidates from outside the community and Salomone said that this sentiment reflects other feedback he has received about the hiring process. He said that he intends to conduct his search both from within and externally.

       The town is likely to see a lot of applicants from the latter category, said Councilor Dan Dinunzio.

       â€�"Newington is an attractive place to be chief,” Dinunzio said. â€�"You look at the tenures and the track records.”

       In the meantime, Salomone will appoint an interim chief, most likely a lieutenant in the department. This will be in place by Dec. 27, he said.

       â€�"You have people who are second in command, but you still need one individual who will be responsible for the department,” Salomone said.

       Whoever he picks, however, will not be in the running to be the permanent chief.

       â€�"It’s difficult enough to run the department without worrying about interviews and I don’t want people to think there’s any lobbying going on, or that somebody has a leg up,” Salomone said.

       And he’s already looking ahead to some restructuring, although he did not go into specifics and does not intend to implement such changes until the permanent position is filled.

       â€�"It means I’m probably going to have to make changes to titles,” he said. â€�"If and when I do that, the Council will get involved, but it’s a separate thing.”

       Under the town charter, Salomone has the say in the hiring of the new chief. He proposed enlisting a recruiting contractor to aid in the process. He’s already had help from Mulhall.

       â€�"Most of the recommendations were vetted by the current chief,” Salomone said. â€�"We both knew this day was coming sooner or later and we had to figure out what we wanted the department to look like.”