The head of West Point’s private security force, Daniel M. Ricci, was hired as chief from among six finalists in a field that originally included 79 applicants. Ricci, 52, of Stony Point, N.Y.,  will succeed Don Chaney, who was chief for nine years before being elected to the city council in November and resigning.

Ricci’s salary will be $100,176 plus benefits. Chaney earned $109,440. The city’s acting chief is Sgt. Mitch Lackey.

“I’m very excited,” said Ricci by telephone from his home in New York. “My wife and I are coming out the first week in April to do some house hunting. We’ve found a rental already.”

Ricci and his wife, Joan, have two grown sons, Brian, 28, and Scott, 25. Brian works for his father at Chenega Integrated Systems, a contract security firm that protects the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Scott, a retail manager, recently married Stacy, a teacher.

Daniel Ricci has been Chenega’s chief at West Point since 2006.

“I think if the federal government can trust Daniel with West Point, we can trust him with the City of Camas,” said Camas Mayor Paul Dennis. “We’re excited to welcome Daniel aboard. I think he is going to prove to be an excellent chief, and he’ll provide a different perspective on how to operate a police department.”

Dennis said this is the first time since 1982 that the city has hired a police chief from outside the city staff.

Former military policeman

Ricci said he came to Washington two years ago to interview for police chief jobs in the towns of Orting and Milton in Pierce County. He said he was a finalist for both jobs, but dropped out when his father became ill and needed his attention in New York. His father subsequently died, leaving Ricci free to pursue a job in Washington again.

Ricci said he started his career as a military policeman at West Point in the 1970s. He moved on to the Stony Point Police Department in 1983 and worked there for 23 years, beginning as a patrolman and ending his career with three years as chief.

“I just felt I had been there a long time, and had done what I could there,” he said. He took the West Point job, but found he missed being a police chief, so when the Camas job opened, he went for it.

Ricci earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Chadwick University in 1999. He was a military policeman in the Army from 1973 to 1979, serving at Fort McPherson, Ga., as well as in Korea and at West Point. He had received an associate of arts degree in criminal justice from the Los Angeles City College in 1978 and graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1996. He was a police officer in Highland Falls and Monroe, N.Y., from 1980 to 1983, before starting at the Stony Point Police Department.

Incidentally, he was elected a village trustee and served as deputy mayor in the village of Highland Falls from 1992 to 1998.

He said he’s been pleased with the Camas police operations. “Everyone I’ve talked to said it’s a very well-run department,” he said. “I concur 100 percent, and I’m not going to say that I’ll come in with any new ideas.”

The Stony Point Police Department includes 31 full-time officers and covers a 20-square-mile area, making it comparable in size to Camas.

After taking over in Camas in April 21, Ricci will spend two weeks at the Washington State Police Academy learning the laws and rules of police protection in Washington before returning to Camas to handle police business.

Dean Baker writes about Camas. Reach him at 360-735-4511 or dean.baker@columbian.com.