GREENWOOD, Del. -- The Greenwood Town Council is scrambling to hire police officers as the department currently has one officer on staff. Meanwhile, several residents say they feel 'unsafe'.
Accord to Greenwood Town Councilwoman Durene Jones, former Greenwood Police Chief Philip Thomas resigned in September. Another officer also resigned in September to transfer to another department. Their absence left Sergeant William 'Billy' Thomas as the only officer on the force.
Jones says the council voted unanimously to hire the only person who applied to the town's job search, but nothing has come of it.
"The mayor made a decision on his own after the meeting to go another route under the advisement of the town's city solicitor," says Jones. "We as the council are still not informed as to what that is."
We reached out to Greenwood Mayor Marshall Kemp, but we did not hear back.
Jones tells WBOC, under state law, the department cannot operate without a Chief of Police. She says Sergeant Thomas was offered the position but turned it down. Jones says as of this morning, she has taken matters into her own hands to get the new applicant on board as soon as possible.
Yet, the effort doesn't calm residents' concerns.
"My mom's friend had a car that got broken into a couple weeks ago, and they stole her wallet," says Tabatha Phillips. "Delaware State Police had to respond to that instead of Greenwood, because they only have that one officer now."
"They used to drive past our houses and always were a big presence in the town and now they're not," says Ellen White. "That's kind of scary."
Others say the lack of urgency on the town's part is unacceptable.
"Everyday is extra stress on our one officer," says Kelli Nuwer. "Everyday is potential harm to the residents here. Everyday is an opportunity for damage to be done."
The town council recently voted to increase the salary for patrol officers and the Chief of Police to $55,000 and $72,000 per year, respectively.
