- April 18, 2024
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Flagler Beach has selected former Daytona Police Capt. Matthew Doughney to head its police department.
Doughney was selected because he had “the right combination of education, training and experience best suited for Flagler Beach at this point in time,” Flagler Beach City Manager Bruce Campbell said in a news release.
Doughney will lead the department as a captain, not a chief. The Flagler Beach City Commission voted this summer to eliminate the police and fire chief positions and replace them with captain positions, with salaries about 20% lower than the chief positions.
Doughney is now a court liaison for Stewart Marchman Act Behavioral Healthcare, coordinating between community resources and the judicial system in Volusia County.
He began his career as a patrol officer with the Daytona Beach Police Department and retired as a captain in 2008, then worked as police chief in Avon Park for two years.
Doughney has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Coastal Florida, according to the press release.
He is preparing to move to Flagler Beach with his family to begin work at his new post on Nov. 4.
BOX: Search for fire captain continues
Flagler Beach is still searching for someone to replace former interim fire chief Robert Pace, who was suspended after being charged with obstruction of justice.
Criminal and misdemeanor charges were filed against Pace in July after a fellow firefighter said Pace had falsified community service records for a probationer. The state has since dropped the criminal charges.
Pace was named interim fire chief after a scandal resulted in the firing of Chief Martin Roberts, Assistant Chief Shane Wood, and firefighter Jacob Bissonnette, who made the accusation against Pace.
Roberts, Bisonnette and Wood were fired after they were accused of storing alcoholic beverages at the station and drinking them while off duty.
Six members of the Fire Department complained about Roberts’ actions in December, and Campbell wrote in a letter to Roberts that the investigator on the case reported “a high degree of intra-department discord.”
