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Troubled King City Police Department gets new interim chief

City of King - KingCity.com

The beleaguered King City Police Department is hoping for some brighter days ahead with the addition Monday of a new interim police chief.

Retired Seaside Police Chief Tony Sollecito takes over for former Interim Police Chief Dennis Hegwood, who left in December.

The department was hit hard last winter when several officers and the then police chief Bruce Miller were arrested as part of a corruption investigation.

Sollecito says he decided to come out of retirement because he loves law enforcement and sees the King City situation as a worthy challenge.

"You're basically rebuilding a police department," said Sollecito. "Just running a police department is a challenge, but when you're having to fill vacant positions, getting it ready for a permanent police chief, but then at the same time the city is kind of running on parallel tracks where they're also looking at possibly contracting with the sheriff's office, that all becomes very challenging."

The application window ended Monday for those seeking to become King City's next permanent police chief. Sollecito says it will likely take several months to vet the various candidates.

The department is also down roughly a half-dozen beat officers, putting an additional strain on current employees.

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