The Dartmouth Police Department is proposing a command change to move away from the “limited” civil service system.=

Police Chief Brian Levesque brought a proposal to change the three-person command structure to the Select Board at its June 3 meeting.

Currently, the department is headed by a chief, deputy chief, and a captain. However, Capt. Mark Zielinski will retire at the end of the month. Instead of filling the position, Levesque wants to change the department structure to have two deputies under him.

The captain position is a civil service position. Levesque said the department has had difficulties filling civil service positions. It creates limited candidate pools, and does not produce the best candidate, Levesque said. The current civil service list only contains one name to fill the position.

“To me, one candidate is not a choice at all quite honestly,” Levesque said.

The Select Board asked Levesque to submit his proposal in writing for the board.

“It’s essentially the same thing, two people at the same level,” Levesque said. “We’re just trying to select the best candidate, and the civil service position is failings us.”