Block Island police chief to step down next month. What we know.
NEW SHOREHAM – The chief of the Block Island Police Department is stepping down Oct. 2 for personal reasons.
Police Chief John P. Lynch submitted his resignation Wednesday, saying in an email that it was a “personal decision for me and my family.”
Lynch has led the department since February after retiring from as police chief in Wilton, Connecticut. According to Good Morning Wilton, Lynch spent almost four decades with the Wilton police, rising through the ranks from dispatcher to the top post in 2017.
Lynch wrote in his resignation letter to the town that since arriving on Block Island, a grandson had been born and that he needed to dedicate more time to caring for his ailing parents in Connecticut.
Lynch came on after tumultuous 2022 summer
Lynch came to the Block Island department following a tumultuous summer in 2022 in which multiple brawls broke out at Ballard's Beach Resort during a Reggae Fest, with some of the altercations spilling onto the docks where attendees were waiting for the last ferry home.
The Block Island department had been without a full-time chief after the departure of Matthew C. Moynihan in June 2022. A former state trooper, Moynihan is now police chief in South Kingstown.
Block Island Town Manager Maryanne Crawford said via email Thursday that she anticipates having a recommendation for an interim chief at the Oct. 2 Town Council meeting. She did not provide further details.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Block Island police chief, who came on after Ballard's brawls, resigns
