Black Leaders: Chief Marvin Mailey

Marvin Mailey says he never dreamed he would become chief of police in Dover.

As a kid in New York, he thought he’d grow up to be a professional athlete.

Instead, he graduated high school and signed up to serve his country.

“At a young age I realized I wasn’t fast enough to play professional sports, so I went into the military. When I was in the military, I was in their form of the security forces. I was in the Air Force.”, says Mailey.

Mailey says he joined the force over 20 years ago and has worn many hats in that time.

“I have been in patrol. That was my first assignment. I worked in criminal investigations. Burglary and robbery investigations. I spent the bulk of my career in the drug vice crimes unit, working undercover.”

Mailey says when he took over as chief, the city was seeing a high number of shootings, so he tapped into his military training to combat these crimes.

“We attributed all of our shootings back to gang organizations. So we adopted the philosophy that the military used to attack terrorist organizations.”, recounts the Chief.

Its a campaign that Mailey and his department are pretty proud of because its producing results.

But the Chief says there are many groups who are helping.

“We’ve been very very effective in suppressing gang violence and keeping the shootings down in our city. Our partnership with the community. We have a lot of local good partners. Local stakeholders, business people and the faith-based community.”, says Mailey.

His colleagues say he’s doing an excellent job in building bridges and leading the department.

“He’s also created a lot of opportunities for the rank and file officers that are beneath him. A lot of people were very excited and still are at the fact he is the chief of police.”, beams Hoffman.

Mailey says he is grateful to be Chief and he’s hoping to keep working on his department to make sure it reflects the community they serve.

“In 2019 police departments need to be more diverse. Its a win-win for everybody. You’re representing all across the spectrum of ethnic groups in your police department and I think that’s good for awareness.”, says Mailey.