Prichard Police Chief Jerry Speziale, who had led the city’s department for less than a year, resigned to take a job in New Jersey, saying the move was driven by his desire to be closer to his two children after the death of his wife.
Speziale, who stepped down as chief on a Thursday in June 2014, praised Mayor Troy Ephriam even as he explained that he was leaving to become the acting police director of Paterson, New Jersey. His children, ages 11 and 16, had not moved to South Alabama with him, and he said they were not prepared to relocate.
Family at the center of the decision
The children, he said, were not ready to transition to Prichard after their mother passed away. The move came a couple of months after his wife died following a battle with cancer. Neither she nor the couple’s two children had moved to the area after Speziale became chief in October 2013; the plan, he said, had been for them to follow. When that plan unraveled, so did his ability to remain in Alabama. He spoke of his children as the center of his life, describing his devotion to them as a father.
A mayor caught off guard
Ephriam said he first learned that his police chief, selected by a blue-ribbon committee headed by former Prichard Mayor A.J. Cooper the previous year, had taken the Paterson job through media reports. Speziale’s hiring in New Jersey had first surfaced publicly on a Wednesday, a day before he formally resigned.
Speziale praised both Ephriam and Cooper but did not say why he had not personally informed the mayor of the change. He described Ephriam as one of the most honest governing officials he had met, and he singled out council members and officers he had worked with, including one who had not voted for his appointment. To lead the department in the interim, officials named former Bay Minette Police Chief Michael Rowland as acting chief during a news conference on Thursday.
A high-profile career
Speziale arrived in Prichard with an unusually prominent law-enforcement resume. He had been a senior executive with the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, served as the former sheriff of Passaic County and worked earlier as a New York City police officer. He had also been active in Democratic politics in New Jersey, and by one account had roughly $500,000 in a campaign fund. He said, however, that the move was about family rather than politics.
During his months in South Alabama, Speziale said, he enjoyed visiting the beaches in Gulf Shores and grabbing dinner at a local chicken restaurant after long shifts spent implementing new policing techniques with city officers. He claimed to have brought in more grant money for Prichard than his $85,000 annual salary cost taxpayers.
He acknowledged that his own health had suffered, saying he was on antibiotics for bronchitis and that the repeated travel between Alabama and the East Coast had worn him down. Once he recovered, Speziale said, he was willing to meet with Ephriam and provide consulting services to Prichard at no cost, an offer the mayor said he was unsure would come to pass.
Questions remained about the terms of Speziale’s departure, including whether he would continue to receive any compensation or benefits. A copy of his contract was on file with the Prichard City Clerk’s Office, and Ephriam said the city would examine it in the days ahead. Speziale described the change as a bittersweet moment and, at the same time, a dream come true.