Longtime Middletown police officer and current Acting Chief Eric Crank will retire in April, and the leadership of the department remains uncertain with the chief on paid leave for reasons city officials still have not shared after two months.
After military service, Crank joined the force in November 1995 and rose through the ranks to one of two deputy chiefs in the administrative office of embattled Chief David Birk.
On Dec. 20, Crank was named acting chief when Birk was placed on paid administrative leave “until further notice” by City Manager Paul Lolli. Crank officially gave notice of retirement the first of January.
The 58-year-old told the Journal-News the retirement timing has nothing to do with Birk’s situation.
“I have been on the fence. Anybody who knew me, particularly my wife and son, knew I had been on the fence since last year,” Crank said. His wife Lynn is a Middletown dispatcher. “It was not secret to my family, but I think it was kind of a surprise to the city and others that people started inferring that I was leaving because of the whole Birk thing, and that was not it.”