Frank appointed new PIB police chief

PUT-IN-BAY After serving as the village's interim police chief, council approved Michael Frank to full-time Put-in-Bay police chief Nov. 24.

Frank, a 27-year veteran in law enforcement, was excited for the opportunity to take the reins full-time because of the progress made by the department this year.

"There are a lot of great people here and we started from scratch building this department back up," Frank said.

In taking over full-time, Frank said he will earn an annually salary of $55,000.

The rebuild was not easy, as Frank took over for Robert "Ric" Lampela, who was suspended in the spring and later fired after being charged with four misdemeanor counts.

Lampela was found guilty on one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. He has since filed an appeal.

With hundreds of thousands of tourists entering the island during the summer and with a primarily young police force, Frank said he wanted to evaluate the department and find the strengths and weaknesses, which he believes he did.

"We are going to more internet-based training for our new hires so they are ready even before they get to the island," Frank said. "We had a great group of kids come this summer and we got a lot of feedback from everyone."

While serving as interim chief, Frank also served as part-time police chief for Rocky Ridge, a job he said he will leave in order to focus on Put-in-Bay.

"This is my full-time job. I wasn't pushing for it, but I think they liked what I've done. It was getting time for the end of the year and I think a decision needed to be made," Frank said.

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: CraigShoupNH