New Milford Police Chief Picked From Within Department: Robert Tusino

MILFORD, MA — Milford has a new police chief, but he may already be familiar to some residents.

The Milford Select Board voted unanimously Thursday night to promote Deputy Chief Robert Tusino to the chief's role with current chief James Falvey set to retire at the end of September.

The vote caps a nearly yearlong search for a new chief that ended with three candidates selected from an initial pool of 19: Tusino, Milford Deputy Chief John Sanchioni and Benjamin Murphy, the interim police chief in New Britain, Conn.

Tusino, a Milford High School graduate, began his career as an EMT in Milford in the late 1980s. He joined the New York City Police Department in 2001, and worked there until joining Milford police in 2007. He was a patrol officer until 2017, then a sergeant and became a deputy chief in 2022.

Tusino will be Milford's fourth chief since Select Board member Tom O'Loughlin stepped down from the job in 2019 after 17 years in the role, but Tusino is the first chief hired through a national search process in about two decades. After O'Loughlin's departure, Milford launched a national search that ended in 2020 when the town's preferred candidate turned down the job offer.

Then-interim chief Michael Pighetti ended up staying on in the chief's role until the select board fired him in late 2021. Falvey has been chief ever since.

A police chief search committee headed by Select Board member Paul Mazzuchelli began the latest search in early 2023. A search firm hired by the town identified 19 candidates, then reduced that pool to six, and then the final three. The three finalists were made public this week ahead of Thursday's select board meeting.

The select board is set to meet Monday in closed session to discuss the terms of Tusino's contract, according to an agenda released Friday.