Town of Surfside Beach announces police chief’s departure after one year
After approximately one year in the role, the Town of Surfside Beach’s police chief, Ken Davis, will be stepping down from his role.
A press release said that he will be pursuing a new public service position after “serving the Town with distinction.”
“[Davis] and his staff put forward a thoughtful, budget-neutral plan to support our officers through increased pay,” town administrator Gerry Vincent wrote in the release. “His commitment to community policing and collaboration with other departments, especially during events, has left a lasting impact. I wish him well in his next chapter.”
Last July, town council members and Mayor Robert Krouse unanimously voted for then Interim Chief Davis to become the Surfside Beach Police Department’s permanent replacement.
At the time, the town’s communications coordinator Tabitha Mull said they had received over three dozen applications for the permanent police chief role.
Davis’s appointment to permanent police chief came after controversy with the former permanent chief, Kenneth Hofmann, who resigned last spring after insinuating that officials voted to investigate alleged high turnover rates in the department.
“Unfortunately, the malicious acts of a few have created rumors that are being used to attack me and my administration of the police department,” Hofmann wrote in his resignation letter. “The mishandling of these acts and rumors at their onset and continuing today, by certain members of the town council and certain town officials, has resulted in the publishing of untrue and damaging misinformation about me.”
In June 2024, Hofmann filed a lawsuit against the town alleging defamation, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.
