SOUTH BETHANY, Del.- One week after the South Bethany Police Chief's departure, the town announced a new, temporary position to help the department as they search for a permanent replacement.
On Tuesday, the council announced their intention to hire Mike Carroll, a retired police chief living in Millsboro, as South Bethany's "public safety consultant." The council says Carroll will help with police work such as recruitment, expense reports, and providing suggestions for the department's standard operating procedures (SOPs). Mayor Tim Saxton said the position will give South Bethany's remaining officer, Sgt. Patrick Wiley, more time with a new candidate and other responsibilities.
"We also need to have Patrick be able to get out on the streets every once in a while," explained "This is a temporary solution that will be disbanded as fast as we get a new chief of police hired."
Larry Budd runs a Facebook page supporting the South Bethany Police Department. He is on board with the new consultant, but wonders if the move could have been done sooner.
"We could have done that when we had officers here, maybe retained them or even used that resource to get new police officers more quickly," he says. "But the town made some changes that made that difficult in the marketplace and those weren't fixed until maybe December."
Budd wants to see the council be more transparent when conducting police department business, and offer more support to the first responders.
"Now we are in a position where we are doing some unnatural things and some good things to rebuild a police force that was in place for 30 years without an apparent issue," he says.
The town reaffirmed its support for the department, and Sgt. Wiley especially, during Tuesday morning's special meeting. Mayor Saxton says the new position has been in the works well before Chief Crowson's retirement.
"I'm going to be blunt: things weren't getting done and additional help was needed," he says. "The SOPs weren't worked on and other items that needed to get done in the department."
Adds Mayor Pro-Tem Sue Callaway, "There's no ulterior motive to it. It's bringing in law enforcement expertise that can help us, support us."
The Public Safety Consultant will work for up to three months and for an average of 30 hours a week.
On Friday, South Bethany is set to discuss and possibly vote on a Police Service Assistance Agreement between South Bethany and Ocean View.