New York City Detective Named Next Salem Police Chief

SALEM, MA — Salem chose a 30-year member of the New York City Police Department as its new police chief on Thursday.

Lucas Miller, a detective lieutenant in the NYPD since 2017 and member of the NYPD FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, will replace Acting Chief Dennis King.

Miller has spent the past 16 years as an NYPD supervisor and has ties to Massachusetts dating back to when he started his career in the Wellfleet Police Department in 1991.

"I am so pleased and proud to be named Chief of Police of Salem," Miller said in a statement. "I want to thank Mayor (Kim) Driscoll and members of the Salem community for their confidence in me and for the opportunity to lead one of the finest police departments in the Commonwealth.

"We are at a critical time in American law enforcement and our commitment to fairness and public safety must not waiver."

Miller served as a homicide supervisor, patrol supervisor, narcotics and community policing officer. He also taught counterterrorism for the NYPD Police Department.

Driscoll said Miller excelled in the assessment portion of the evaluation and that she received positive feedback on him from community stakeholders and past coworkers. He was chosen out of a pool of four finalistsannounced early last month.

"I am confident he will be a strong leader for the department," Driscoll said. "Policing in America has changed, even in just the past year, and we justifiably expect our law enforcement officers to approach their work with a commitment to equity. I'm confident Detective Lieutenant Miller will do just that.

"Detective Lieutenant Miller additionally has extensive command experience in large-scale events and with community policing, both of which are especially relevant here in Salem. I look forward to welcoming him to Salem and into this extremely important role in our community."

Driscoll said Miller will be sworn in as chief later this spring in a ceremony that will be available virtually to Salem residents.

(Photo courtesy of Patrick Nugent/NYCPhoto.com)

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

More Patch Coverage: Salem Narrows Police Chief Search To 4 Finalists