Sandy MaloneRockville, MD – The Montgomery County Police Department’s (MCPD) first-ever civilian assistant police chief has been stripped of his law enforcement powers and suspended.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced in June of 2021 that he had appointed Carmen Facciolo to the position of assistant chief of MCPD’s Community Resources Bureau, WJLA reported.
The Montgomery County Council confirmed Asst. Chief Facciolo’s appointment during a virtual meeting on June 29, 2021.
Less than a year later, officials announced that Asst. Chief Facciolo had been suspended from the department.
MCPD Chief Marcus Jones informed the department about the change of command via email last week, WTTG reported.
“Effective immediately, all duties and authority vested in the Chief of the Community Resources Bureau are vested in Captain Marc Erme. This will remain in place until further notice,” Chief Jones wrote, according to WJLA.
The police chief initially said he couldn’t provide any details about the suspension because it was a personnel matter, WTTG reported.
However, he later addressed a widespread rumor that the suspension was related to a cardiac arrest call that Asst. Chief Facciolo attended last week.
Chief Jones said the suspension was not a result of the cardiac arrest call but was due to “other personal matters that are being investigated,” WTTG reported.
NEW: Montgomery County Police has suspended its first-ever civilian assistant police chief, sources tell me.
Executive Elrich appointed Carmen Facciolo last June. The council formally confirmed him.
A department spokeswoman said she could not comment about personnel matters. pic.twitter.com/M48PTR55nj
— Kevin Lewis (@KevinLewis7News) June 8, 2022
But sources told WTTG that the department was investigating whether Asst. Chief Facciolo had acted inappropriately both during and after the emergency call that occurred on June 2, when MCPD and the Montgomery County Fire Department responded to a 911 call for someone suffering a heart attack at the Five Star Senior Premier Residences of Chevy Chase.
According to police sources, Asst. Chief Facciolo directed a crew to stop working on the patient so he could perform CPR on her himself.
There was also a claim made that the assistant chief may have asked someone to take his picture while he was doing it, WTTG reported.
Sources said there were additional problems with what happened after Asst. Chief Facciolo left the scene.
An MCPD spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that Asst. Chief Facciolo had been at the call to the senior living facility on Connecticut Avenue but did not release any details of the incident, WTTG reported.
It wasn’t known what kind of emergency medical training or certifications, if any, the now-suspended police official had.
The county executive said he had been briefed by the police chief on June 8.
Elrich justified his decision to appoint a person with no formal law enforcement training to a senior position of responsibility in the police department as “because it was meant to be a civilian chief,” WTTG reported.
“We were not looking for another police officer to be another police chief, it comes down to that simple…” he explained.
The department is also investigating whether Asst. Chief Facciolo committed any ethics violations in his year on the police department, WTTG reported.
The family of the patient took to social media on Wednesday night and blasted Elrich’s response to the incident.
“@MontCoExec You have suspended Carmen Facciolo due to inappropriate behavior during a life threatening event involving my Mother last week. Why have we not be contacted? I expect a response June 9th before 9 AM. This response had better come directly from Marc Elrich,” Paul M. Becker tweeted.
@Marc_Elrich You have suspended Carmen Facciolo due to inappropriate behavior during a life threatening event involving my Mother last week. Why have we not be contacted? I expect a response June 9th before 9 AM. This response had better come directly from you directly.
— Paul M Becker (@Paul_M_Becker) June 9, 2022
“I was there / witnessed what he has been accused of,” Becker continued in a second tweet. “You had better stop thinking about yourself and re-election and be in touch. We have resources and you will not sweep this under the rug. We have already been connected by the media. Do you want the family to call a press conf?”
An attorney for Asst. Chief Facciolo released a statement that said the police official had not yet been notified of his suspension by the police chief.
“We do not know anything about the purported suspension other than what we have heard in the press,” according to Katherine Atkinson. “My client has received nothing in writing. He has been out of work since Friday due to a disability.”
Atkinson said in a statement obtained by The Police Tribune that Asst. Chief Facciolo was in the hospital earlier this week and had talked to Chief Jones but the top cop didn’t mention him being suspended.
She dismissed some rumors in the press as inaccurate but did not mention the cardiac arrest incident.
“This is disability discrimination and a political stunt by Chief Jones to undermine Mr. Facciolo and the County Executive mere days before the election,” the attorney claimed.
Holly Matkin
