Seaford PD to expand, adding more officers to the force

SEAFORD, Del. – More boots on the ground in Seaford.

The Police Department is expanding over the next year, something Mayor Dave Genshaw says the city is in support of. The city may be seeing steady crime but safety is the town officials’ priority. They say it will be costly but community members agree they’d like to see the change.

“This is a good time to get into law enforcement because there are a lot of changes being made for the better,” says Deputy Chief Michael Rapa.

The Seaford Police Department is set to get an additional 5 officers this year. Something the city and community members agree is a need for the area. “Our community’s probably pretty mixed on that naturally they want our communities safe they know that we need more officers on the street. People are doing things you wouldn’t dream of 10 years ago but they know there’s a cost so they want us to make wise decisions with their money but they’re very supportive of their police chief and officers,” says Mayor Genshaw.

Seaford Mayor Dave Genshaw says adding more officers to the force will be costly to the city’s budget but this investment will add more specialized officers. “Our criminal division we would increase the personnel to be more proactive in investigations but also part of that is we’re going to add a full-time community policing officer,” says Deputy Chief Rapa.

Officers will police a community that Deputy Chief Michael Rapa says has a steady crime rate. “We are just like everybody else crime has either stayed steady or peaks of our high crime that we normally haven’t had in years past have increased.”

Though crime is remaining steady, Mayor Genshaw says the Seaford area is on the up and up making this a good time to join the force and protect the city of Seaford. “Proud of our folks and what they do, they keep our community safe and Seaford on an economic upturn so there’s a lot really good happening here and I think people want to be a part of that,” says Mayor Genshaw.

The mayor says that the current cultural shift and how tough it is to be a police officer also play a role in how soon they can get officers to join. However, the city ensures the police department will have as many people as they need to make sure the community is safe.