ENFIELD — Police Chief Roy Holland will step down next month.
Holland, who has led the Enfield Police Department since 2018, informed the Selectboard on Monday that his final day on the job will be April 10.
“Ultimately, I’m in the window I had projected to retire years ago,” Holland, 48, said in a Thursday morning phone interview.
In their early 20s, he and his wife saw people they knew get close to retirement, only to get sick and not be able to fully enjoy their nonworking years.
“We said we didn’t want to do that,” said Holland. “We wanted to work hard when we were young, retire early, be able to travel and spend time together so that’s what we’re going to do.”
He’s also completed one of his main goals for the department: “(…) seeing the building get built; getting settled in.”
Holland oversaw the police department’s move from Main Street to a new public safety facility on Route 4.
Voters approved the $7.26 million bond during Town Meeting in 2022, and the facility, which also includes the town’s volunteer EMS and fire departments, opened last spring.
After retiring, Holland, an Enfield resident, will continue to buy and sell real estate, as he has done for years. He also has agreed to work until next March as a part-time officer in Grafton, which is without a permanent police chief.
“I took the opportunity to retire from Enfield and work in Grafton and help them re-establish their police department for a little while,” Holland said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. I do love my role here in Enfield.”
Enfield Town Manager Ed Morris said that he is working on a plan for an interim chief and a search for Holland’s replacement to present to the Selectboard at its next meeting, which is scheduled to take place April 6.
Currently, Holland holds three roles in town: police chief, emergency management director and public safety director. His salary is around $115,000 a year, Morris said.
The department has seven full-time officers and four part-time officers, Holland said. Its budget is roughly $900,000 a year. The department has been the same size since 2003, when a seventh full-time officer was added, he said.
“Our plan right now is to replace his position, in kind, with someone who can do the same things he’s doing,” Morris said.
Holland grew up in Enfield. After graduating from Mascoma Valley Regional High School in 1996, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps.
He and his wife, Sasha, who currently serves as Enfield’s deputy town clerk, got married and had their first son when he was in the service. Holland said Sasha will retire in about a year.
“I didn’t want to be an absent father so I got out of the Marine Corps,” Holland said. He later joined the Army National Guard and, as a member of the infantry, was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He worked for two years as a prison guard at the state prison in Concord, before being hired as a patrol officer for the Enfield Police Department in 2002.
“There was still a lot of the old school mentality,” Holland said about the department when he first joined. “Community policing wasn’t really a widespread thing and so it was more of an ‘us against them’ mentality. It definitely has changed over the years.”
He eventually climbed the ranks to detective sergeant before former Town Manager Ryan Aylesworth appointed Holland as acting chief in spring 2018, after former police chief Richard Crate stepped down. A few months later, Holland was appointed to the permanent role.
As chief, Holland has focused on community policing. He started events such as “lunch with a cop” and “walk with a cop” at Enfield Village School.
“My kind of vision for it is the first time a kid sees a police officer, it shouldn’t be during a stressful, bad situation,” Holland said.
He’s also promoted “coffee with a cop” gatherings where residents could stop by to chat with police officers.
“I believe community policing is not just showing up to events and being nice, it’s actually having your officers become part of the fabric of your community, so that they’re invested in the outcomes and how people feel in the community,” he said.
Morris, who’s worked with Holland for about four years, spoke highly of Holland’s commitment to the town.
“He’s gone above and beyond helping me look for grants, manage grants, write grants for the entire town, not just emergency service grants,” Morris said.
He also said he appreciated the events Holland has implemented in town, including outdoor movies in the warmer months.
“There’s lots of times you see officers out playing with kids,” Morris said. “They’re truly a part of our community and not just a force in our community.”
Canaan Police Chief Ryan Porter has worked with Holland for two decades and the two departments regularly assist each other.
“Our officers are always generally helpful to each other and back each other up,” said Porter, who worked at the Enfield Police Department for about six months when Holland was chief before rejoining the Canaan Police Department and becoming chief at the end of 2022. “It’s nice to know we back each other up if we need it.”
He said he appreciates Holland’s commitment to community policing and his direct way of communicating.
“You know where you stand with him,” Porter said in a Thursday morning phone interview. “I think that’s probably helpful for his staff to know what the expectations are.”
After Holland’s departure, Enfield will be served by an interim police chief. “It’s probable that Deputy Chief (Luke) Frye will take that on,” Morris said in a Tuesday morning phone interview.
A job posting for the permanent position will not be created until after the next Selectboard meeting, and the candidate search will likely begin in April, Morris said.
In general, the town conducts a nationwide search for department heads, which involves multiple people interviewing candidates, Morris said.
“If you get good candidates, it’s usually a four-to-six month process,” Morris said.
While Holland understands the town will likely conduct a larger search, he thinks the successor is close at hand.
“Hopefully in the end Deputy Chief Frye will get his opportunity to lead this department because I think he’s earned it,” Holland said.