Williamstown’s last permanent chief, Kyle Johnson, resigned in December 2020 after a series of scandals involving sexual harassment, racism, and misconduct emerged from the department that summer. Ziemba, then a lieutenant, stepped into the vacancy. Town Manager Bob Menicocci says the 22-year veteran of the force has the experience and integrity needed for the permanent job.
“It's about bringing visibility, transparency, and just a high level of structure and command structure around the policies, procedures of the work," he told WAMC. "So, Mike has been busy doing that work long preceding my arrival. So, it's nice to be able to step in and see the level of work that had been done."
The wave of scandals also prompted the resignation of Menicocci’s predecessor, Jason Hoch, in 2021.
