David Betz was promoted to captain by Police Chief Keith Houghton at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Betz leads the department’s Criminal Investigation Division.
“I’m proud to have a colleague, a dear friend, someone who is one of the brightest minds in law enforcement as an investigator and in so many realms of policing to officially, ceremoniously sworn in,” said Houghton. “Dave’s been a police officer for over 35 years, he started with the Harvard University police, Arlington Police, and he’s been on Chelsea since 1990. He rose through the ranks rather quickly, making his mark, most notably in criminal investigations.
“Dave has a knack, he has a quality that most people don’t have, as a detective, which I was since 2007 … I relied on Dave, who was the lieutenant in the bureau continuously for guidance, to know how to run an investigation, to use his creative mind to know how to catch the person we were looking for.”
In other business Monday night, the council approved some changes to its rules on Monday night, including changing the deadline of when councilors can submit motions and orders.
Councilor-at-Large Damali Vidot said the subcommittee on rules and regulations has been meeting over the past several months to review the council rules.
“We have a set of rules that we vote on every year when we are inaugurated that supersede (Robert’s Rules of Order), and some of these are just to maintain order so things can run smoothly here,” said Vidot.
One of the changes moves back the deadline of when councilors can submit orders for the following Monday’s meeting from Thursday to Wednesday at noon.
“Another one is just about just highlighting some of the rules in the council and making sure there is decorum here in the City Council,” Vidot said. “Another one emphasizes that when we are here and someone mentions a councilor by name, (the councilor who is mentioned) has the right to speak. What we want to do is maintain professionalism here … so we can actually get the work of the people done.”
The council also approved a number of resolutions, including ones recognizing Earth Day, Administrative Professional Day, Armenian Genocide Remembrance, and Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month.