Seaford Police respond to Governor Meyer’s recent executive order

SEAFORD, Del. – Seaford Police are responding to Delaware Governor Matt Meyer’s executive order establishing the Office of Gun Safety Prevention and Community Safety.

Seaford Deputy Chief Tyler Justice said while he’s excited and optimistic for the future of the office, his department is taking a wait and see approach before jumping to any conclusions.

“We welcome any attempt by the Governor and the state to increase collaboration, communication and cooperation among the different agencies in the state, among community leaders, among community organizations anything that people are willing to try to reduce gun violence in our state is something that we are willing to be a part of and to work with,” said Justice.

Deputy Chief Justice believes it is going to take a collaborative effort to curb the state’s gun violence.

“Gun violence, it’s not just in Seaford, it’s just not in Western Sussex, it’s not just in Sussex, it’s across the state even in our smallest communities even in our biggest communities and so, it’s going to take all of us to try and get there and it’s not something that just one police department or one state agency is going to be able to fix,” he said.

On Thursday, Governor Matt Meyer signed an executive order creating the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety.

“We’re establishing this office because there are too many kids, there are too many adults who do not feel safe in their community and as I said earlier we are looking across the world for whatever strategies that will keep our children safe and looking to deploy them across our state,” said Governor Matt Meyer Thursday.

Deputy Chief Justice said his department is in support of the new office, but is still waiting on guidance on how they are going to interact with this new group.

“One of the things that I’m looking forward to is a potential to communicate with some of our other agencies who maybe have experienced more violent gun crimes and get their thoughts as well as work with the state agencies that have different types of technology and experiences and just give us a better picture so we can solve the issues that we have and maybe we can provide some insight and some assistance to other agencies and communities who are struggling with some of these issues,” said Deputy Chief Justice.

When it comes to reducing gun crimes in Seaford, Justice highlighted their big effort to connect with community.

He said that community generated intelligence is key to addressing issues they find throughout the city.

Justice adds he’s encouraged to hear that the office will be working with smaller agencies as well – like in Seaford.