Perth Amboy will make its acting deputy police chief permanent Friday afternoon and promote a police sergeant to lieutenant.
Perth Amboy Deputy police Chief Larry Cattano
Perth Amboy police Sgt. Eddie Padilla PERTH AMBOY -- Perth Amboy will promote its acting deputy police chief to deputy police chief Friday afternoon and promote a police sergeant to lieutenant.
Larry Cattano, a 24-year-veteran of the police department, has been acting deputy chief since Dec. 15, 2014. Cattano will now become the city police department's permanent deputy chief at a ceremony at 4 p.m. at the public safety municipal complex auditorium on New Brunswick Avenue.
Joining Cattano in the ceremony will be Eddie Padilla, a police officer in the city since 1999 and a sergeant since 2007.
"To help carry out our mission of a successful civic oriented department, we have built a diverse police force that reflects the residents of our community," said Mayor Wilda Diaz in announcing the promotions.
"Our police department is now employing more staff that it did just eight short years ago-we are that much more capable of serving our residents."
Diaz thanked Cattano for running the department since December.
RELATED: Perth Amboy police chief indicted for theft, official misconduct
The mayor did not mention his name, but it was in December when the department's chief, Benjamin Ruiz, was arrested on theft charges and suspended without pay.
Ruiz has since been indicted on the charges and the additional charges of official misconduct, arising from three separate incidents when the chief allegedly ordered city mechanics to work on his motorcycle, his classic Mustang and a friend's car.
During Cattano's career with the police department, he also "moved over" and served as the first paid chief and director of the city's fire department from 1999 to 2008, when he returned to the police department. In 2000 he also became the city's emergency management coordinator.
Sgt. Padilla has served as a patrol supervisor in the Uniformed Patrol Division since becoming a sergeant.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
