The Town of Frankford hired a new police chief two years ago.
And the town’s police department is now growing.
For years, the tiny Sussex County town - with just under 1,000 residents - relied on Delaware State Police.
Now, the Frankford Police Department is adding three part-time officers, giving it four officers to answer calls and patrol the streets.
“We’re really excited about all three of them; they all come highly recommended,: said Police chief Larry Corrigan. "And two of them are full-time officers at their respective agencies and they have already started actually. And our first one (officer) will be on patrol Thursday night (Oct. 7).
Chief Corrigan notes that the three new officers include the department’s first female officer - Megan Loulou.
He says since the officers have full-time jobs with DNREC, the Selbyville Police Department and the South Bethany Police Department, they will be rotated to cover about 48-hours-a-week.
Corrigan says for now, the new part-time positions will be funded through the town budget. Eventually he says, he would like to apply for grants in an effort to make those officers full-time, “I’m hoping to some time next year be able to get some grant funding because there was a delay in us being able to get grants; we had to be open for a three-year period before we could access those funds. So right now, the Town is footing the bill for the “growth” so to speak.”
Corrigan was hired in November 2019 after a two-year hiatus without a police force. Again, the Town had relied on Delaware State Police to handle emergency calls, accidents and crimes before that.
In addition to expanding the force, Corrigan started afraud protection program for elderly residents, expanded Frankford’s police vehicle fleet and purchased new firearms.
He says residents approving a property tax increase over the summer allowed the department to make those upgrades and add the part-time officers.
