'Ideal candidate' James Costa is new deputy police chief in Tiverton

TIVERTON — There are so many memorable moments, Deputy Police Chief James Costa says of his 28-year career in the Tiverton Police Department, and as the newly appointed second in command, there will be more.

Costa, who has been acting captain for more than two years, was appointed to the deputy chief position by unanimous vote of the Town Council this week, given a three- year contract and sworn in Tuesday by Town Clerk Nancy Mello.

That was a memorable moment in his life, but the ones he first mentions when asked have to do with children, and one was very recent.

A 6-month-old boy was carried limp into the police station recently by his mother, having choked on some food Costa was able to dislodge enough that the boy began to cry and breath again before the rescue arrived.

Another that immediately came to mind happened years ago, when he was working the night shift and a call came in that a 5-year-old boy with autism, wearing only pajamas, ran out of the house when the babysitter went into the bathroom. It was the week before Christmas. Costa found him standing on the yellow line in the middle of Fish Road, barefoot and shivering.

“It’s part of the job,” Costa said of never knowing what is going to happen.

Police Chief Patrick Jones, who recommended Costa for the deputy chief job that has not been filled in the department for the past 14 years, said he trusts him “implicitly,” and values his opinion.

“He’s the senior most member of the department,” Jones said of Costa. “He’s familiar not only with operations” of the department “but also the community.”

Town Council President Patricia Hilton called Costa “an ideal candidate.”

Costa, 50, could have retired eight years ago after 20 years on the job and moved on, but he says he likes what he does and wants to keep on doing it in a town where he built a house with his wife nearly 30 years ago and raised two sons.

One of five children in his family whose father died when he was just 5 years old, Costa grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts, and graduated from Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School.

He is humble. And he’s a very private person. While he did not want to provide the names of his sons for publication, he said he is immensely proud of them. One is an emergency room nurse and one is an industrial pump mechanic. His wife is a cardiovascular nurse, a person he credits with doing such a great job “raising the three of us,” he said with a smile and a chuckle.

Costa and Jones began their careers in the police department six months apart in the early 1990s. They met at the agility test where there were more than 100 candidates participating.

When the hiring eligibility list was released that also took into account a written exam, Jones was ranked number one and Costa was number two, Costa recalled.

Nearly three decades later, Jones and Costa don’t always agree on things, Jones said, but they are friends and have great respect for each other.

Costa said his primary duty as deputy is to “make sure everything is going well and make sure everyone in the department” from the dispatchers and officers to the mechanic “has every tool to succeed.”

“This town is in very good hands,” Costa said of the people who work in the Police Department. “You have people who truly care about the town and their job. The right people are in the right places.”

Asked how things have changed since he started his law enforcement career, Costa said: “Law enforcement is like a pendulum. There’s times when we have great support from the community and times when we don’t.”

The drug problem is a challenge for any town, Costa said, when asked what things may have gotten worse since he began his career.

“We have to come up with some plan to handle it as a community,” he said of the Hope Initiative the department has had in place for the past year. Two officers were sent for training to learn how to follow up with people who have overdosed on drugs

“After the dust settles, the officers try to find them, speak with them, give them options,” he said of helping them find a new path in life.

Costa is known for having started the Feeding Families program the police union has funded for the last 25 years to provide holiday food baskets and heating oil help in the winter months to families in need. Instead of putting together baskets, the union now gives the local food pantry money to buy food and help with heating bills.

He started it, he said, because he saw it was done in other communities and thought it was important to help families in need here in Tiverton.

Not the first one in his family to enter law enforcement, Costa said he has uncles who were federal agents and relatives who were police officers and corrections officers, including his brother.

“It’s been kind of a family business for a long time,” Costa said.

Costa’s three-year contract has a starting salary of $76,500 that will increase to $78,000 at the end of six months. The contract calls for 30 days vacation, 10 sick days, three personal days and up to $1,000 a year for continuing education.