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Seaford council approves creation of third lieutenant to support accreditation and retention
Summary
Council approved creating a third lieutenant position in the police department, promoting the current staff sergeant to lieutenant and elevating a senior patrol sergeant; staff said the change supports accreditation work and officer retention and will be funded from existing FY25 vacancies as an unbudgeted expenditure.
Seaford City Council on May 13 approved a departmental staffing change that establishes a third lieutenant position in the police department and preserves the existing staff-sergeant role.
Deputy Chief Tyler Justice explained the change and framed it as part of the department's push toward accreditation and improved training and oversight. Justice said the additional lieutenant position would allow the current staff sergeant, Valerie Horn, to move into the lieutenant position and free other supervisors to take on specialized training and program responsibilities. Justice said the city had received a directive to pursue accreditation and that the additional supervisory capacity would help meet increased training, reporting and policy workload.
Vice Mayor Dan Henderson added that some accreditation programs are mandatory and others are optional but complementary: "DPAC accreditation is not optional. It's comp it's compulsory. Now CALEA is optional, but there's so much there's a lot of overlap, and it it it definitely is additive to making a better organization," he said.
City staff told council the promotion creates a modest unbudgeted payroll impact (staff estimated the promotion to lieutenant would add approximately $6,000 in annual payroll costs for the affected position) but said available funds from unfilled officer positions in FY25 could cover the cost. Deputy Chief Justice said promotions also serve as retention tools for officers nearing retirement and create internal advancement opportunities.
Vice Mayor Dan Henderson moved to approve the recommendation to establish the third lieutenant while keeping the staff sergeant position; Councilman Orlando Holland seconded. The council approved the motion by voice vote.
Staff directed human-resources and finance to record the personnel changes and to reflect the payroll impact in financial monitoring; the department said it will implement the personnel changes immediately and will report back on accreditation progress through the usual updates.
