Lt. John Garcia was named the new Marion Police Chief at Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting.

In May, current police chief Lincoln Miller announced he would retire at the end of the year. The board decided they would look in-house for a new police chief before exploring outside options. Last month, Garcia and Sgt. Richard Nighelli interviewed with the Board of Selectmen for the position.

“Both men were extremely qualified,” Selectman Steve Gonsalves said. “Either one is a win…We’re very blessed to have two qualified men like this come up to the plate.”

Ultimately, the board decided on Garcia, who has been a police officer for 33 years—31 of them have been spent in Marion. He was promoted to sergeant in 2000 and lieutenant in 2004.

Throughout his years with the department, Garcia has founded and led the search and rescue team, as well as led the charge to get the department accredited. Additionally, he has specialized training to better serve citizens with Alzheimer’s.

When interviewed in September, Garcia outlined what he wanted his first six months to look like as police chief. “The first thing to address would be the re-distribution of responsibilities in the department. I’d bring some of the junior command staff up to speed,” Garcia said at the time. “In addition…I’m a firm believer of being involved in the community. We used to do things like bicycle rodeos and the firearm safety classes…With budget constraints some of those met the chopping block, but I would like to be more involved in the community.”

He also explained his leadership style and how he would cultivate a culture of public service throughout the department.

“I think it starts with finding officers who have a particular interest in something,” Garcia said. “It’s difficult for anyone raising a family, so you have to find things that are meaningful and fun. If it feels like a chore, it gets hard to get them involved.”

Garcia listed policy as one of his strengths. As the leader of the accreditation charge, he “literally wrote the book on [policy].”

"I don’t think anyone knows policy and procedures better than I do,” he said. “I generally do the draft – I take model policies and adapt them to our department so that they’re reflecting what we’re actually doing…There are roughly 326 standards we have to meet, and I have a folder for each one with pages for which policy meets that standard.”

Garcia will take over as police chief at the beginning of 2018.