Porter police Lt. Dan Dickey has been chosen to become the town of Porter’s next police chief, effective July 5.

The Porter Police Commission voted on April 17 to hire Dickey to succeed the current Chief Todd Allen, who plans to retire on July 4 ending his 30-year career with the department.

The commission interviewed Dickey and Lt. Jason Holaway, the two internal candidates interested in the job, before making the decision.

Dickey, 38, started with the Porter Police Department in 2009 as a reserve officer. He became a full-time officer in 2012, eventually moving up in rank to lieutenant.

During the next few months, Dickey said he will be shadowing Allen to learn the job.

Dickey said he has been already working alongside Allen on the administrative aspects of the job, which include budgeting. Porter has 10 full-time officers and 13 part-time officers on its force.

The Porter Town Council on Tuesday night gave permission to negotiate with the Discovery Charter School, which is interested in having a Porter Police officer work as a school resource officer. Porter police Sgt. Tom Blythe has expressed interest in the school resource assignment.

Dickey said that protecting children in the schools is “priority number one.”

Placing a school resource officer from the Porter Police Department at the Yost Elementary School in Porter might be a goal to consider for the future, Dickey said. The Duneland School Corporation currently has six Chesterton Police officers assigned to work as school resource officers.

At the moment, the police station house is undergoing an interior remodeling. Dickey said he hopes to do more in-house training to reduce travel time and expenses for the officers.

Along with Chief Allen, Officer Marty Gonzalez and Assistant Chief Jason Casbon are planning to retire this year.

Three outside candidates have been identified as potential replacements.

“We’ve got 30% of our department leaving by the end of the year and being replaced, so we’ve got a lot of changes,” Dickey said.

“But we’re excited about it. We’ve got a good team.”

Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.