Celina Mayor Says Police Department Fully Staffed Following Chief’s Return

Celina Mayor Luke Collins said the city police department is fully operational now that Police Chief Terry Scott has returned from medical leave.

The city operated without a police force late last year utilizing the Clay County Sheriff’s Office for services. Collins said the department is now fully staffed.

“We’re fully operational,” Collins said. “We’ve got a great staff. Everyone of them that I have communicated with and communicated with Chief Scott, they are all qualified with a tremendous amount of experience.”

Collins said since the chief has returned, he has recruited and hired some new officers. The city lost at least one officer during the medical leave due to leadership issues.

During Scott’s leave, Collins allegedly told police officers to go home until the chief returned. This caused the department to be unstaffed for sometime. Collins said the allegation was not true. Collins said some officers took advantage of the opportunity to not work instead.

A former police officer that worked for the department said that Collins in fact did tell the department to go home.