Anthony Carter: Ex-NYPD cop turns down Southampton police chief post after criticism by mayor Jesse Warren
SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK: The Village Trustees of Southampton are furious with the town mayor's action, claiming that he lied to the press, making "several materially false statements" in a bid to prevent their choice for police chief from getting the post. Former NYPD inspector Anthony Carter had been selected to become the police chief with the backing of the village trustees before he rejected the job.
The town claimed that Mayor Jesse Warren swore that he would back Carter's candidacy before saying in an interview that Carter wasn’t qualified because “we wanted a candidate who had taken and passed the [chief’s] exam.” “After recruiting Commissioner Carter for the position and advising him that he would support his candidacy, the Mayor not only voted against his appointment but made several materially false statements about his reasons for so,” the trustees said, according to New York Post.
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Who is Anthony Carter?
Anthony Carter is the current Deputy Police Commissioner in Suffolk County. He was in the running for the upcoming Hamptons police chief position before he turned down his "dream job" and the $225,000 salary. “Though turning the position down is very disappointing, I’m grateful for the support of the Village trustees, the village administrator, the community, and especially the highly dedicated men and women of the Southampton Village Police Department who need and deserve everyone’s support,” Carter said.
A trustee claimed, he “proceeded to undermine the entire recruiting process,” and said the mayor had “expressed his intention to find a candidate who would accede to his wishes, with blind loyalty to him” before rejecting Carter. “Mayor Warren continued with this reprehensible conduct by authoring an Op-Ed piece in the Southampton Press that doubled down on his false narrative. He repeated some of the same falsehoods in an article that ran recently in the NY Post.”
A person familiar with the hiring process said the mayor claimed he opposed Carter because his chief test did not add up, insisting he was more than willing to take the exam. “Not wanting to take the chief test is ridiculous,” the source said, adding, “He was the front runner, and had the support of all the trustees. It’s a shame. He would’ve been great.”
Warren had previously explained why he did not support Carter by stating that Carter’s compensation package was too generous, adding that he hadn’t passed the chief’s test, which he called an “important requirement” and the interview process was not transparent enough, amounting to a “violation of public trust”, according to a local Hampton paper.
However, the trustees claimed that since it's their responsibility to select the next chief, they will only involve Warren going forward to the “minimum extent permitted by law.”