Interim Rutland City Police Chief Matthew Prouty will soon take over the role on a permanent basis.
The Rutland City Police Commission this week agreed to name Prouty to the post, effective March 1. In selecting Prouty to become the city’s next police chief, the commission opted not to conduct a wider search.
“We decided this was not the time for a long, drawn-out search,” Patricia Brougham, commission chair, stated Wednesday in an email. “With all the city is experiencing right now, we need stability.”
Prouty has served as the interim police chief since December when outgoing Police Chief Brian Kilcullen announced he would be retiring March 1.
Prouty, 53, said Wednesday he hoped to bring continuity to the department during a time of flux in the city. In addition to the change in leadership at the police department, Mayor Michael Doenges recently announced his resignation, with a successor expected to be chosen by voters on Town Meeting Day.
Prouty said he still must negotiate with the police commission the terms of his contract, including the number of years and salary. The agreement will then be passed on to the city’s Board of Aldermen for approval.
“Some stability is good,” Prouty said of his reasoning for accepting the job on a permanent basis.
Prouty has worked with the department for more than two decades, most recently serving with the rank of commander.
In announcing Prouty as the interim chief in December, police commissioners said at that time that Kilcullen, who had been chief for roughly a decade, would be handing over the day-to-day operations of the department pending his retirement.
Kilcullen had been facing scrutiny at that time for his handling of an internal affairs report that sharply criticized the action of officers in a pursuit that led to a vehicle crash killing Rutland Police Officer Jessica Ebbighausen in July 2023.
Kilcullen announced his retirement just two days before Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan issued a Brady letter against Kilcullen, as well as retired Rutland City Police Commander Sam Delpha, who conducted and authored the internal affairs report.
The letter, which is named after a national court case, is filed by a prosecutor when an officer’s credibility is called into question.
Sullivan wrote in that letter that Kilcullen and Delpha had improperly failed to disclose internal affairs report findings in part to “shape” the criminal case against Tate Rheaume, who was charged with aggravated murder in Ebbighausen’s death.
Police had been pursuing Rheaume when, according to charging documents, he slammed his pickup nearly head-on into a cruiser driven by Ebbighausen.
Ebbighausen, 19, had been with the Rutland City Police Department as a part-time officer and was set to start training soon to get her full-time certification.
The next court hearing in Rheaume’s case is set for April 6 in Rutland County Superior criminal court.
