To: Reading Community
From: Robert W. LeLacheur, Jr. CFA
Date: June 18, 2019
RE: Personnel update
I have accepted the resignation of Police Chief Mark Segalla, effective June 28, 2019. Mark will remain out and continue to use his sick leave time through that date.
Thank you to Mark’s family, for sharing a husband, father, and son with us for over twenty years in the Reading Police Department. We have much to be thankful for over that period of time, and you have a great deal to be proud of.
Over the past six months, I have twice explained to the community in as much detail as the law allows the absence of Chief Segalla, the role of outside law enforcement agencies and the exclusion of the Town of Reading in that process. Mark’s resignation will put an end to the Town’s limited involvement.
I wish Mark and his family much health and happiness in the years ahead and join many in the community who believe that, after a difficult period of time that involve allegations of domestic abuse, Mark is on the path to again make all of us proud of his future endeavors. His resignation signals his decision to place his family above his career in the Reading Police Department and is a choice I have a great deal of respect for.
Deputy Chief David Clark will continue to run the department until further notice. Later this summer we will conduct a replacement process for the position of Reading Police Chief, including an independent Assessment Center that will consider applicants from Reading and other communities. Special thanks go out to Dave, who has done an outstanding job under some very difficult circumstances for the past several months.
I remain very proud of how the Reading Police department has responded over this period of time, as the women and men of the department have continued to provide a high level of service to the community, and helped keep us all safe. Yesterday we spent the day at Austin Prep during an active shooter drill. The day was a clear reminder of how all of our public safety personnel place their lives at risk by simply showing up for work each and every day. We all owe them a debt of gratitude that remains difficult to measure.
