There will be a new look to the city's Vice Unit beginning today.

The entire department - including supervisors and all 15 detectives - is being replaced.

While there have been rumblings in the Police Department over the mass move that began last week, the new Vice Unit commander is not worried.

"We're all cops, we're all professionals," Capt. Harold Hutchins said. "Police work is police work is police work."

Hutchins, a 24-year ACPD veteran, said he has done a lot of vice-related work over the years, although not as a plain-clothes detective.

Police Chief Arthur Snellbaker would not comment on the changes.

"It is a personnel move which is internal and not for public consumption," department spokesman Lt. Michael Tullio said. "These things do happen from time to time, and it is the chief's prerogative to do so."

Hutchins did not have information on where each of the detectives is going, but did confirm that the entire unit will be replaced.

"They're being dispersed around, reassigned to different units," he said last week. "Some already took effect. The majority will take effect Sunday (today)."

The leadership was moved first, with Hutchins taking the reins from Capt. Joe Fair. All the supervisors and detectives will be replaced, meaning no cuts to the unit, Hutchins said.

PBA Local 24 President Curt Williams said he has heard from a few officers involved.

"They're not complaining, just voicing concerns," Williams said. "They want to know where they are going, what shift they'll be on."

He said they also are unclear on the reason behind the transfers.

"Your assignment is at the discretion of the chief, and they understand that," Williams said. "Their concern is just, from that standpoint, they hope the chief doesn't think they were doing something he didn't like that warranted the move."

"It is a move that necessarily needs to be shrouded in some secrecy because of the nature of the work the unit does," Tullio said.

Such mass changes are not unusual in big-city police departments, according to a criminal law professor at Rowan University.

"Many agencies have this policy, namely that they change police officers from one unit to the other," said Allan Jiao, chairman of the Department of Law and Justice Studies at Rowan University. "It is especially common in large departments, like New York and Los Angeles."

Jiao said the two reasons behind a rotation policy are usually to reduce the chance of corruption and expand job experience.

"It's hard to comment without knowing the background information on what triggered the move," said Jiao, who is working with students in tracking guns that come into the city. "From a professional perspective, generally speaking, (the transfer) is because they want the vice unit to be more effective."

Vice work, which depends on gaining information from the public and having close contact with drugs and money, is sometimes prone to corruption.

"You need to have a close relationship with the public, but it has to remain a professional relationship," Jiao said. "This is a fine balance that has to be checked.

By changing personnel, this risk is lessened, he said.

"I'm not saying that Atlantic City's unit is corrupt," Jiao stressed. "But, in general, if you keep changing their shifts, you don't have the chance to develop those personal relationships."

A more positive reason for these types of rotations is to have officers gain more knowledge, helping them communicate with departments outside their own.

"If you only work in one unit, you basically have tunnel vision," Jiao said. "This increases variety in their job responsibilities. They become more well-rounded officers so hopefully they have a department-wide view."

To e-mail Lynda Cohen at The Press:

LCohen@pressofac.com