WILMINGTON, Del. - The Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security has announced Sean Moriarty as executive director of the new Police Officer Standards and Training Commission. This commission is a new division within the department, created in August when House Bill 206 was signed into law to replace the Delaware Council on Police Training.
In this role, Moriarty is tasked with leading the commission through establishing hiring and training standards for Delaware police officers as well as overseeing allegations of officer misconduct. He will also advise the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission, which is responsible for establishing policy and standards for police agencies, assisting them with standardization and accreditation and issuing guidelines for local police oversight boards.
Moriarty recently retired from Delaware State Police as a Major. He is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and has previously held positions as the Director of Training for the Delaware State Police Training Academy and as an administrator for the now-replaced Council on Police Training. As an administrator, he oversaw recruitment, in-service, firearms, canine and elective training, and revised the training curriculum regarding instructor development.
Lawmakers have introduced two bills that would increase police accountability and transparency in several ways.
In addition to the new Police Officer Standards and Training Commission, the new law shifts responsibility for administrative support and training programs oversight and standards from the director of Delaware State Police to the Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The law also requires that every police agency be accredited by the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission by July 2028. When the bill was signed in August, only 21 of Delaware's 52 police departments met that standard.
The commission will have 17 members, including:
- The Attorney General.
- The Superintendent of Delaware State Police.
- The police chiefs from the City of Wilmington, New Castle County Police, City of Dover and City of Newark.
- The Secretary of Education.
- The President of the Delaware League of Local Governments.
- Two mayors appointment by the governor, one from Kent County and the other from Sussex County.
- The chairperson of the Delaware Association of Chiefs of Police.
- The chairperson of the House of Representatives Public Safety Committee.
- The chairperson of the Senate Corrections and Public Safety Committee.
- Three members of the public appointed by the governor to include one religious leader with experience with reentry and two people "who have been impacted directly or are immediate family members or caregivers of those impacted by the juvenile or adult criminal justice system," according to the law.