Former assistant applies for HS police chief job
The police chief of Bluffton, S.C., has applied for the police chief’s job at the Hot Springs Police Department, where he formerly served as assistant chief, a Bluffton, S.C., newspaper confirmed Monday.
Bluffton Police Chief Chris Chapmond confirmed to The Island Packet on Monday that he has applied for the chief ’s position at his former department.
“I can confirm that I did apply for the position,” he said in a phone interview with the newspaper, which serves southern Beaufort County. “The position has not closed yet, so I don’t have a whole lot to say.”
The city of Hot Springs posted the opening April 17 and applications close Friday. Hot Springs Police Chief Jason
Stachey and Assistant Chief Walt Everton jointly announced their retirements the morning of April 15, effective May 29. Hours after they announced their retirements, the Hot Springs Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 voted unanimously to issue a letter of “no confidence” against both.
Chapmond told The Island Packet he was not actively looking for a job when the Hot Springs position became available.
Chapmond, who was hired in Bluffton in July 2018 following a two-month interview process, was chosen from 63 applicants, the newspaper reported.
During his interview process, when Chapmond was named one of the top two candidates, Chapmond said if he were offered the position, he’d commit to being chief for an extended amount of time.
He was sworn in Sept. 1, 2018, with a starting salary of $106,000, the same starting salary as the chief before him, according to an August 2018 email from deputy town manager Scott Marshall, the newspaper said.
According to Hot Springs’ deputy city manager, Lance Spicer, Stachey’s current salary is $108,035.
“Early on, Chapmond promised to build trust within the community and vowed to be transparent. Within three months of being sworn in, he created a new hiring policy and launched a large recruitment effort to hire more officers while using higher standards and denying jobs to applicants justifiably fired from other departments — a problem the department had faced in the past,” according to Monday’s article in The Island Packet.
“Among the highlights of his time as chief: He expanded the department’s arresting powers on nearby waterways, saw BPD recognized by the S.C. Department of Public Safety as Agency of the Year for its 2018 DUI enforcement, and has been involved in the community, including dressing up as Captain America for Halloween, reading to students, and playing basketball with local kids.
“There were also moments of controversy, such as in February 2019 Bluffton Police arrested one of its own officers after a bowling alley brawl. The officer later resigned; the charge against him was dismissed. The department was criticized for lax discipline of an officer who showed a pattern of smashing car windows and engaging in dangerous pursuits. Most recently in January 2020, the chief fired an officer after receiving a citizen complaint that the officer had ‘sexual relations with someone he had arrested/transported,’” The Island Packet reported.