By Adam Swift
Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty is retiring after almost 15 years in the top spot in the department in July.
In addition to serving as police chief, Delehanty was the town’s interim town manager twice, including prior to the hiring of current town manager Tony Marino.
“By far, he is one of the best chiefs I have ever worked with, and certainly one of the best chiefs in the state and he will be sorely missed,” said Marino. “We thank him for his service and we will have the proper celebrations when that time comes.”
Thanks to prior town councils and work done by Delehanty, Marino said there is a succession plan in place for hiring a new chief.
“We do have two deputy police chiefs,” said Marino. “My plan for replacing (Delehanty) is to interview both of those deputy chiefs.”
Marino said the interviews will be done alongside Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard, who he said has a lot of interaction with the police chief and with the school resource officers in the department.
“It just makes a lot of sense to have Lisa there, and once those interviews are complete, I will select the most qualified candidate,” said Marino. “That will have a ripple effect down to have other positions to fill after that, but that is the plan for filling that positon, so we are moving forward with that.”
Delehanty graduated
from Winthrop High School in 1987 and began his career with the Winthrop Police Department in 1995. Three of Delehanty’s brothers and his father all served as police officers.
During his time as chief, Delehanty co-developed the town’s Problem Properties Task Force and implemented a Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery (CLEAR) program. He also served as the Emergency Response Coordinator and trainer for the town and the school department.
Delehanty is also a licensed attorney in the state, with a degree from the Massachusetts School of Law.