Hancock police chief to step down after less than a year on job

April 21, 2006|by ANDREW SCHOTZ

HANCOCK - After less than a year as Hancock's police chief, Steven L. McCarty is leaving the position next month.

Mayor Daniel A. Murphy said Thursday that McCarty is focusing on becoming an Episcopal deacon.

"He has been studying for that," Murphy said.

McCarty - who was named police chief in June 2005 - has resigned effective May 12, Murphy said.

However, McCarty is not leaving police work. He is scheduled to join the Washington County Sheriff's Department as a deputy within a few days after leaving his Hancock job, Sheriff Charles F. Mades said.

Mades said Thursday night that the sheriff's department is doing a background check, which is standard procedure for new employees.

McCarty did not return a message left on his cell phone Thursday. Murphy said McCarty was out of town.

Although McCarty retired from the Maryland State Police with 22 years of experience, he will join the sheriff's department as an entry-level deputy.

The Rev. Anne Weatherholt of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hancock wrote about McCarty's departure in her "Around Hancock" column Wednesday in The Daily Mail.

McCarty is "in the process of completing a four-year journey and training program to become ordained as a deacon in the Epsicopal Church," she wrote. "This program included monthly overnight training sessions, a year-long Clinical Pastoral program (part-time), two year-long internships (part-time), and many other special and time-consuming instructional events."

She wrote that McCarty, the lay associate at St. Thomas Episcopal Church for 15 years, will be ordained as a deacon June 10 in Baltimore.

"In Steve's own words, this new ministry is one that excites him," Weatherholt wrote. "He wants to give it more of his time than is allowed by the demands and expectations of being chief of police, where the 'buck stops' at his desk."

Murphy said McCarty has been "above board" about leaving his job, giving the town more than a month's notice. He said McCarty told him about two weeks ago.

The town expects to have a new police chief in place by the time McCarty leaves, Murphy said.

Hancock has one part-time and three full-time police officers.

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