ST. MARYS, Ohio (WLIO) – The city of St. Marys has sworn in a new police chief to lead the department.
Formerly a sergeant, Lucas Turpin took the oath and became the St. Marys Police Chief at Monday night’s City Council meeting. The promotion comes after former Chief Brian Christopher accepted a voluntary demotion back to police officer as part of a Last Chance Agreement. In May, Christopher was placed on paid administrative leave while an internal investigation was conducted into alleged workplace misconduct. As of Monday, there are no ongoing charges or investigations against Christopher. Following the three-month investigation, Turpin said he hopes to rebuild community trust.
“One of the main things I want to get done, though, is regain that trust with the community. You know, obviously, we've had some personnel issues within the last couple months. We need to get that trust back with the community, and we're going to do that by just good old-fashioned, honest police work,” says Chief Lucas Turpin, St. Marys Police Department.
Also during the council meeting, former patrolman Scott Buschur was promoted to police sergeant and took the oath to assume his new role.
