DEWEY BEACH, Del. - Constance Speake was appointed to fill the vacant position of police chief at the Dewey Beach Town Commissioners meeting on Friday.
"It's exciting. I've always worked with concrete all around me," Speake told WRDE's Heidi Kirk on Monday morning.
Speake is a Millsboro resident but has worked in different communities throughout her career. At the age of 19, she joined the military, where she spent two years in the army and one in the reserves before becoming a police officer with the Mount Rainier Police Department on the border of Maryland and Washington.
"I was the first female officer at my first agency," said Speake. She spent the majority of her career at the Laurel Police Department in Maryland, where she says she "pretty much did a little bit of everything." Speake was the first woman on the SWAT team and was also a SWAT instructor. She worked in community policing, events, and as a bike officer. As a command officer for 11 years, Speake worked in criminal investigations. After 21 years she retired from the Laurel Police Department and has now taken on a new role in coastal Delaware.
The police chief position in Dewey Beach has been vacant since June 2022, and Speake is looking forward to working closer to home and serving this community.
"I thought, 'why not try Dewey Beach?' It's a new challenge, it's a new opportunity," Speake said.
Speake will work to complete a Delaware Council on Police Training certification program throughout the next seven weeks. Her first day in this new role is set for Friday, Jan. 20.