ST. PAULS — The St. Pauls Board of Commissioners unanimously named a veteran police officer from New Jersey as the town’s next police chief on Thursday.
“We had to go to the other side of Fayetteville to get him,” Mayor Elbert Gibson said with a laugh. “Nine hours on the other side of Fayetteville.”
Steve Dollinger, from Middleton, New Jersey, has been a police officer more than 30 years. He retired in March as chief of the Middleton Police Department, but wasn’t ready to give up law enforcement.
Dollinger will replace Chief Thomas Hagens, who has served 31 of his 45 years in the St. Pauls Police Department as its chief. Hagens began as an auxiliary officer, working police shifts without pay, until he was asked to join the force as a part-time officer. The rest is history.
Hagens manages a staff of 13 police officers and five dispatchers. His last day will be Dec. 31.
The commissioners voted to give Hagens his service revolver and badge upon retirement.
“I’m just going to look to build on the foundation he’s already set for the police department,” Dollinger said.
Dollinger has served as a canine officer, detective, detective sergeant, detective bureau commander and deputy chief.
He has had 115 sworn personnel and 90 civilians under his command, Gibson said. .
“I just want to thank the St. Pauls council for having confidence in me and appointing me to chief of police, as well as Mr. (Rodney) Johnson (town administrator) and the hospitality I’ve been shown throughout the whole process,” Dollinger said.
Dollinger received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Monmouth College in 1993. He graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in 2014. In 2017, Dollinger received a master’s degree in Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Dollinger also completed the Certified Manager Program at Arizona State University and graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command.
“He likes our tax situation and lack of snow here,” Gibson said.
Dollinger’s wife, Stephanie, and two of their four children, 16-year-old Gavin and 14-year-old Skylar Murray, are in the process of moving to St. Pauls. Dollinger will take part in orientation with the police department until Jan. 1.
In other business, the commissioners voted to allow the Robeson County Department of Social Services to use the Boy Scout Hut, located at 140 N. Fourth St., to take applications for the Low Income Energy Assistance program from Jan. 27 to Feb. 14.
The town also is working to find funding sources for a number of projects, such as storm drain repairs on North Wilkinson Drive and adding a drainage system on Elizabeth and Johnson streets, Johnson said.
Mayor Gibson and Commissioners Evans Jackson and Jerry Quick were sworn in during a workshop meeting on Dec. 2 to new terms.
