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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- Longtime Putnam Police Department member, Sgt. Leonel "Lee" Konicki looks forward to increasing the community involvement and integration of the police with the community it serves.
Recently named as acting deputy chief at the Putnam Police Department, Konicki wants to continue the community policing initiatives that have taken root in the last few years. "I'd like to see us do more to become more visible," he said. The department needs to be "further integrated into the community."
It's a community he has a close relationship with, having lived here since he was 3. His family moved here from Southbridge and Konicki went through the Putnam school system, graduating from Putnam High in 1983. "Clueless," he said, about what he wanted to do, Konicki took a personality test at PHS and it pointed to either landscape architect/forestry or police work.
"As I got older, the police part was more appealing," he said. Konicki studied criminal justice at Dean Junior College in Franklin, Mass., and did a "short stint" at the Department of Corrections in Connecticut.
He was hired at the Putnam Police Department in November of 1985 and graduated from the police academy in February 1986. He was promoted to sergeant in 1994.
As a patrol officer, Konicki and Tim Oles in 1990 started the DARE program in local schools. He said he had the right personality to do the DARE program. "I've always loved kids and I'm especially active with my own two (Erin, a biochemical engineering major at WPI; and Lauren, a Worcester State grad considering medical school). It was one of the most "rewarding parts" of his job, he said.
He said "something clicked." He added, "I grew up in town so I have a lot in common with kids here. The northeastern Connecticut French Canadian mill town is STILL the heart of the community."
Putnam still retains that personality, he said.
"I wanted to be a police officer because I truly love the community. I enjoy talking with people. I enjoy helping people," he said.
Konicki is married to Annette Jakubisin Konicki, a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner who is director of family nurse practitioner program at the Mass. School of Pharmacy and Health Service. They are members of St. Mary's of the Visitation Church in Putnam and are avid bicyclists. Konicki also serves on the Eastern Connecticut Soccer Officials Association and is a member of the Board 8 Basketball officials.
What would he like to say to the community? "I have received in the last couple weeks so much support from the community. I wish I could find every one and thank them personally. Everyone's congratulations mean so much."