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Government / News / Southampton Press / 1495640

Task Force Work Session Postponed Again

authorLaura Cooper on Mar 16, 2011

A Southampton Town Board work session focusing on the East End Drug Task Force has been postponed again, this time because of Town Police Chief James P. Overton’s pending retirement.

The discussion was expected to take place at a work session scheduled for last Friday, March 11, but was postponed until after the chief’s successor is appointed.

Chief Overton, who pulled one of his officers from the joint task force late last year, citing staffing cuts, announced his retirement on March 7, following decades of department service. He is expected to leave the department’s top spot in April. It is unclear who will be his successor.

Last week’s meeting was expected to include a presentation from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office about the East End Drug Task Force, a unit that brings together police departments from across the East End so they can target drug distribution on the North and South forks. The discussion had previously been scheduled for February 18, but was rescheduled to accommodate Chief Overton, who was on vacation at that time.

LAURA COOPER

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