Crime & Safety
Village Affirms Cummings as Police Chief
Southampton Village Police Department chief is off probation.
The Southampton Village Board voted 4-0 Tuesday to affirm Thomas Cummings as the chief of the village police department, bringing an end to his probationary period.
Cummings was appointed provisional chief in June 2011 in a 3-2 vote to succeed former Chief William Wilson, who left to take the top cop post with Southampton Town; Wilson tendered his resignation from the town police department this month.
Before Cummings could be fully appointed chief, he was required to take the Civil Service chief's exam and score a 70 or higher. He had passed the exam twice before, but those scores expired before his appointment. Cummings took the exam again in May and scored a 94.
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After Cummings passed the exam, his appointment as chief became official, but probationary. Satisfied with his performance over the past six months, the present members of the Village Board unanimously affirmed his appointment Tuesday; board member Michael Irving was absent for the vote.
"I very much appreciate the confidence you've shown in me," Cummings told the board Tuesday before the vote was taken. "You've been very supportive in the 19 months I've been provisional and probationary, and I intend work just as hard now that I am off probation as I did when I was on probation."
