The city of Centerville has a new police chief after a year and a half of instability at the position.
Centerville leaders decided to hire one of its own this time around, 10-year department veteran Charles "Chuck" Hadden.
The City of Centerville's Police Department is under new management.
U.S. Marine Corp and Georgia Army National Guard veteran Charles Hadden is the new chief.
Hadden served in Iraq for nine months from 2005 to 2006. After graduating high school in 1996, he enlisted with the USMC until 2000. Then, he joined the Georgia Army National Guard for a four-year contract from 2005 to 2009.
He said after returning from Iraq, he knew a job law enforcement was his calling. Hadden says he has no plans to go anywhere.
“Have faith in me because I've put in a good amount of time with the city of Centerville, I have no intentions of going anywhere else. As a leader of the city of Centerville, or the City police department, I'm going to make sure that my guys are upholding the standards that the people expect from law enforcement,” Hadden said.
He says he plans to stay for the long haul, which is good news for city leaders.
Since June of 2015, the Centerville Police Department has been without stable leadership. Chief Sidney Andrews resigned due to health reasons. Then the city says Chief Ronald Rodgers left after just months on the job in September of 2016 without giving a reason.
And in between, it's been a mix of interim and temporary leaders, including Hadden. By his own count, Hadden estimates that six different people played both permanent and temporary leadership roles for the Department since June of 2015.
Mayor John Harley says this time they know they have their guy.
“We let a time period go by for him to be operating in that position so we could overview what he was doing, just to see how it was going, and we've been very pleased with everything that took place. Very pleased,” Harley said.
Harley told WMAZ Centerville needs a police department to have a more personal connection with its citizens. He also said, since Centerville is an incorporated city, they need fire and police departments.
When asked why the Houston County Sheriff’s Office could not take over law enforcement for the city, Harley said the Sheriff’s Office already had enough to do, and it would make County taxes go up. Either way he said, someone has to pay for his city’s security.
The budget for the Centerville Police Department is just under $2 million.
City leaders say originally they were looking for an outside hire. But, after Rodgers resigned in September, they decided to promote from within.
Centerville is a city of just under 8,000 people. The Department has 18 sworn-in officers, including the Chief.