Sean Reifel’s boss slams him over quitting job as a cop in order to join Love Island USA
'He was a great officer, but I’m disappointed'
29 year old Sean Reifel has been slammed by his boss and the mayor of his city over his decision to quit his job as a cop in order to join Love Island USA.
He quit his job after less than a year in order to join the cast, with both the mayor and the chief of police saying how “disappointed they are in him.”
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According to local outlet WHTM, the mayor of Bethlehem, J William Reynolds commented: “Our police department spent a lot of time training. We paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy. We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year.”
He continued: “I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”
Sean’s former boss, Police Chief Michelle Knott also spoke about his decision to quit the force to join the show, saying he thinks it’s a “bad look.”
Speaking to The Morning Call, Michelle explained: “I love Sean, he’s a good guy, he was a great officer, but I’m disappointed.”
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He added that him leaving so suddenly was “extremely difficult”, saying: “We work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department”, and that recruiting officers has become essential due to “manpower issues that we were experiencing on patrol as well as our vice unit.”
Michelle also clarified why Sean Reifel wouldn’t have been allowed to take a break from his job to go on Love Island USA rather than quit completely. He explained: “At this time, I don’t think there’d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for ‘x’ amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone’s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps. Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me.”
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