Pelham Manor Police Lieutenant Thomas Atkins was appointed provisional police chief Monday by the village board to bring what it termed “a new management style” to the department. He replaces Jeffrey Carpenter, who resigned suddenly at the end of May as an independent investigator was completing interviews in a formal personnel complaint.

Atkins has been in charge of the department since Carpenter’s resignation.

Detective Sergeant Gregory Sancho was named by the board to fill the lieutenant’s post.

“I can’t think of anyone who brings a better blend of gritty police competency with public relations skills,” Mayor Jennifer Monachino Lapey said of Atkins during the board of trustees meeting. 

Atkins was born in Manhattan and began his career with the Manor police department in 1985. He became lieutenant in 2017. 

Following Carpenter’s resignation as chief over Memorial Day weekend, the board revealed June 7 it had hired an independent investigator to review an “internal personnel matter” after Trustee Breda Bennett received a formal complaint from a PMPD officer on March 16. Bennett, who serves as police commissioner, had also received an anonymous email in February about low morale in the department, said the June 8 statement.

Sancho became a police officer in 2006 with the Maybrook Police Department and transferred to the PMPD’s patrol division in 2009. He was assigned to the detective division a few years later. 

“Detective Sergeant Sancho’s calm, approachable demeanor combined with his professional work ethic and experience will continue to be an asset to both our community and our police department in his new role as police lieutenant,” said Lapey. 

In a press release, the board of trustees said, “We encourage residents to reach out to the PMPD’s executive leaders, both of whom look forward to utilizing their strong interpersonal skills to continue advancing the village’s law enforcement goals and objectives.”

“I think the combination is just what the doctor ordered at this time,” said Lapey.

Carpenter had served in the Manor department since 1998 and was named chief in 2015. The Westchester Rockland Journal News reported the village spent more than $11,000 on the investigation that preceded Carpenter’s resignation, citing documents obtained in a Freedom of Information request.