Thomasville City Manager Alan Carson has named John Letteney as the new Police Chief for the Thomasville Police Department. Letteney will assume the post as Chief of Police on January 11, 2021. Letteney’s appointment comes after a lengthy search conducted by the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs, which narrowed the applicant pool from 31 to a final three.
“I am pleased to name John as TPD’s new Police Chief,” said Carson. “The process to find our new Police Chief was very similar to the process we used to find our new Fire Chief. The GAPC did an initial assessment of our applicants, selected those that were best suited to our position, and then conducted initial interviews and tested a pool of eight candidates.” Carson named a final three last week, who all had the opportunity to meet with members of the Thomasville City Council and the Thomasville community at a meet and greet event held on Monday, October 26th.
“We were fortunate to have a great pool of applicants and three very impressive final candidates,” said Carson. “In the end, I selected the candidate that I felt would best move our department forward while maintaining both our focus on our professional agency and our commitment to community-based policing. John is an experienced law enforcement professional, and I look forward to having him join Team Thomasville and leading TPD into the future.”
Letteney is the current Chief of Police for the Apex Police Department in Apex, North Carolina, a position he has held since 2012. Prior to this, Letteney worked for the Southern Pines Police Department in Southern Pines, North Carolina, for seven years and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Rochester, New York for 24 years. “John’s law enforcement career is very impressive,” said Carson. “He has risen through the ranks, beginning first as a dispatcher and police assistant before achieving progressively higher ranks throughout his career. He has also worked with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), where he was an assessor and team leader, experience that will prove extremely valuable to us as a CALEA-certified agency.”
Letteney holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Criminal Justice from Marist College, where he was the recipient of the faculty award for having the highest academic achievement in his graduating class. He received a Bachelors of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the Rochester Institute of Technology and was a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s prestigious FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia. He has also attended the FBI’s Regional Command College in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The selection of our next Chief of Police was no easy task, as TPD has a reputation for excellence in its service to the Thomasville community,” said Carson. “We have an outstanding agency, staffed with some of the best law enforcement professionals anywhere. I’m confident in my selection of John Letteney to lead our department, and I look forward to the impact he will have on our organization.”
Carson said that a pinning ceremony will be held in January to officially install Letteney as TPD’s new Police Chief. For more information, please call 229-227-7001 or visit Thomasville.org.