Port Royal announces finalists for police chief as Beach retires
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Port Royal Police Chief Alan Beach has officially retired, and now the Town of Port Royal is on the hunt for a new police chief.
Port Royal officials and members of the public said goodbye to Beach during the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and the town released the names of the finalists to replace him.
The search has been narrowed down to three candidates and the decision ultimately lies with Town Manager Van Willis to make the final decision as to who will fill the role.
Of the finalists, there is one in-house candidate and two candidates who do not work for the Port Royal Police Department.
Capt. Andre Massey is the only candidate currently working for the Port Royal Police Department.
Massey is a Marine veteran who served from 1986 to 1998. He joined the police department in Port Royal in 1998 and has worked as a police officer for the town ever since.
The second candidate in contention for the job is Jeffrey Meyers who recently retired as deputy chief of Fort Myers Police Department in Florida. Meyers was hired to the Fort Myers Police Department in 2018.
Meyers came to that job after spending 24 years working with the South Euclid, Ohio, Police Department. He graduated from the FBI National Academy and Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command and holds a degree in Criminal Law from Bowling Green State University.
According to his LinkedIn, he retired in 2023 and currently works part-time as a consultant for Critical Response Strategies.
The third candidate is Kevin Pierce who is the retired Chief of Police for Borough of South Coatesville Police Department in Coatesville, Pa.
Pierce attended Villanova University and Valley Forge Military Academy & College, according to his LinkedIn page, and he got his master’s degree in Administration of Justice from Wilmington University. He was hired in 2017 to his job with the Borough of South Coatesville Police Department and continued to work there until Sept. 2024, according to his LinkedIn page.
He was recently hired as the Director of Security and Transportation for Hilton Head Preparatory School.
All three candidates are expected to meet with town officials and residents on Sept. 11, before a final decision is made, to see how they interact with the people they will be protecting and working with.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
