By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — Veteran Woonsocket Police Capt. Walter Warot is one of four finalists for the $90,000 police chief’s job in Provincetown, Mass.

Warot was one of 85 candidates who initially applied for the chief position, which was vacated with the retirement of former Provincetown Police Chief Schuyler “Ted” Meyer in January 2007. Acting Police Chief Warren Tobias, who has been running the department for the past 15 months, is also retiring.
Provincetown officials whittled the list to 33 candidates and then four finalists, which include Warot; Bow, N.H. Police Chief Jeff Jaran; Provincetown Police Sgt. Carrie Lopes; and Ann Marie Connell, a department supervisor in the New York City Police Department.
Interviews of the candidates were held last week. BadgeQuest, a public safety consulting group, has been assisting the town with the chief selection process.
Town Manager Sharon Lynn, who was expected to make a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen by the beginning of this week, did not return a phone call placed to her office yesterday.
Warot made local headlines last year when he and Woonsocket Lt. Timothy Paul were disciplined by former Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle for their handling of the investigation of an alleged illegal access of a department computer from outside the department.
The detectives were suspended for their work on the case and ultimately had those disciplinary procedures overturned during a Superior Court hearing on the make-up of a Police Officer’s Bill of Rights hearing panel.
Several years ago, Warot, who was commanding officer of the city’s undercover drug squad at the time, accidentally shot himself in the buttocks in a park outside the Frank J. Licht Judicial Complex on South Main Street. He was wounded in his right buttock when his service issue .45-caliber handgun discharged.