Jerry Speziale, who stepped down as Prichard’s police chief, will keep working with the city as a paid advisor on law enforcement matters, according to former Prichard Mayor A.J. Cooper.
Cooper, who led the search committee that originally recommended Speziale for the job, said he and current Mayor Troy Ephriam spent the past couple of weeks negotiating the terms of Speziale’s departure. The two sides ultimately agreed that Speziale would remain available to the department for up to a year to help however he can.
“We worked through it and he will continue to be a consultant to the city and do everything he can for the next year to help us out,” Cooper said. “We pray for him. God knows we love him.”
City leaders have not yet worked out whether Speziale will be paid for his consulting role or receive any continuing compensation tied to his resignation. Officials were expected to lay out additional details at a morning news conference at Prichard’s municipal complex. Cooper added that an interim police chief will be named soon, though a timeline for hiring Speziale’s permanent replacement has not been set.
Speziale joined the Prichard Police Department in the fall of 2013, and Cooper credited him with helping bring down crime in the city during his time leading the force.
“This man has done a tremendous job for our city,” Cooper said. “For that, we are very grateful. We think our new chief, with Chief Speziale’s help over a period of time, will be able to keep that momentum going.”
Speziale is leaving Prichard to take a position as acting police director in Paterson, New Jersey, a city where he has deep professional roots. Before coming to Alabama, he held senior law enforcement posts with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, served as sheriff of Passaic County, New Jersey, and worked as a New York City police officer earlier in his career.
City officials have said the driving factor behind Speziale’s resignation was personal: the recent death of his wife. Cooper said Speziale had hoped to eventually relocate his wife and sons to Alabama once she was well enough to make the move, but that outcome never came to pass.
“It had been his intention for his wife and boys to move down here,” Cooper said. “Obviously, it was his hope she would be well enough to do that. It was a great loss, as you can imagine, to the chief, but a much greater loss to his boys. His first obligation was to his children.”
City officials say the transition plan is designed to preserve the crime-reduction gains made under Speziale’s leadership while Prichard searches for its next permanent chief.