The city of Reading has a new police chief.
City Council voted unanimously at a special meeting Wednesday to appoint Elias Vazquez as chief of police.
The appointment is conditional on Vazquez meeting the requirements of the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission within 180 days of appointment.
Elias Vazquez (COURTESY OF TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT)
Council also introduced an ordinance setting the salary of the police chief at $145,000 per year and plans to vote on the measure at its Jan. 8 meeting.
“Vazquez has had a long and expertise-filled career in policing,” Council President Donna Reed said.
Reed said Vazquez served 26 years with the Tampa, Fla., police department where he served as assistant chief. Tampa police officials said Vazquez retired from the department in 2020.
He has experience in nearly all realms of police work.
“Tampa may be larger than us,” Reed said of Reading, “but we’re the fourth largest city in the state. We have the same kind of urban issues.”
Vazquez was recommended by Mayor Eddie Moran and William Heim, city managing director and former police chief, Reed said, noting council conducted a lengthy interview with the candidate prior to the meeting.
Heim read a statement from the mayor, who was unable to attend:
“Mr. Vazquez has a long and successful career in municipal policing, and has been promoted through many ranks in a variety of assignments with the Tampa Police Department. Throughout this hiring process, he has demonstrated that he knows how to fight crime. He knows how to engage the community and he knows how to organize and run an urban police department. He has walked the walk and has committed to the mayor and the managing director that he will do the same in Reading.”
Heim said the mayor plans to formally introduce Vazquez to the community at a public event in January.
Outgoing Councilman Christopher Daubert thanked the mayor and administration for hiring Vazquez.
“I think the public is going to be so well served by him,” Daubert said. “It was an extremely impressive interview, and his credentials speak for themselves. So I enthusiastically will be making my final vote on this body a great one for the city and its residents by appointing Mr. Vazquez as our police chief.”
Outgoing councilwomen Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz and Wanda Negron said they also were impressed with Vazquez, who speaks English and Spanish.
Goodman-Hinnershitz, who has served 20 years on council, said Vazquez was the most impressive candidate for the position since Heim, who was appointed managing director last year.
Councilman Wesley Butler said he was particularly impressed by Vazquez’s pledge of zero tolerance for police brutality.
Reading’s search for a new chief followed the resignation in July of Chief Richard Tornielli, who worked for more than three years in the role and spent over two decades on the force.
In September, Moran named Deputy Police Chief Javier Ruiz as interim chief.
Tornielli was sworn in as West Reading police chief in early September. West Reading had been without a chief since April, when Wayne Holben stepped down after 10 months in that role to return to his previous position as a sergeant.