The Village of Bluffs is getting two new part-time officers while Winchester is losing its police chief.
The Journal Courier reports that the Bluffs Village Board recently approved the hiring of two part-time officers, Nate White and Caleb Handy.
Handy is currently the Chief of Police in Winchester. Handy has been in the position at Winchester since October 7, 2020. According to the report, Bluffs Chief of Police Patrick Johnson says that Handy will soon be resigning from the position in Winchester. White is also listed as a current employee of the Winchester Police Department.
Winchester Mayor Rex McIntire says that a search is underway to find Handy’s replacement: “Obviously, we were disappointed. I talked to Caleb about this situation about 2-3 weeks ago, and he mentioned that with his family and he’s a full-time Corrections officer at the Jacksonville prison that it was just a lot for him and he didn’t think he was doing the job as Chief of Police justice. He thought he would have to resign as Chief but said he did want to stay on as a part-time officer in Winchester.”
McIntire says he is unsure if White will remained employed with Winchester. He says he will know more about White’s situation after a face-to-face meeting in the next few days.
Bluffs Village officials said they wanted the two new officers to cover day shifts with the upcoming school year.