Town Manager Richard MacDonald announced at the selectmen’s meeting Monday night Steve McDonald has been appointed deputy chief for the Duxbury Police Department. “He has quite a resume,” MacDonald said. “He has an extensive military history.”

McDonald comes from Mashpee, where he served as a sergeant. He recently retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a chief petty officer after 30 years of service. He was a leader in the development of a tactical team with the Coast Guard in the years after 9/11 and has been deployed at presidential inaugurations and national conferences.

“He has a substantial amount of policy development experience and is extremely knowledgeable from a tactical perspective,” said Duxbury Police Chief Matthew Clancy.

Clancy said the candidate pool consisted of 20 candidates from nine states. Through a series of interviews, six candidates stood out. Clancy said any one of those six candidates would have “served the town well.” 

Clancy said he had planned to eliminate one of three lieutenant positions at the department to open up space for a deputy chief. When one lieutenant retired, Clancy jumped on the chance to hire a deputy chief.

“We simply reconstituted the position, which opened the window to move forward,” Clancy said.

Clancy said McDonald will take an active role in the operations as the overall commander of the patrol and investigations section of the department. This will allow Clancy to focus on his administrative duties and will relieve the two current lieutenants of the extra duties they have been performing.

“The two lieutenants that we have right now are spread very thin,” Clancy said. “They have done a fantastic job and this will allow them to focus on their responsibilities.”

Because this was the first time in history Duxbury will have a deputy police chief, MacDonald said the town meeting had to approve the position. A legislative approval was also required for the position.  MacDonald said he believed adding the position was a smart move for the town.

“Chief Clancy is a very professional, structured individual who believes in a chain of command and felt this was the best process for the department,” MacDonald said. “He’s done a tremendous job and I’ve supported him the whole way.”

Clancy said he is looking forward to having the deputy chief in the department and believes he will help clarify confusion with the chain of command.

An appointment ceremony for the deputy chief will be held on Friday, Jan. 18 at the Senior Center.