Scottsville Police Chief Darren Tabor Resigns His Position

By Chris Cole,
Staff Writer

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, Scottsville Police Chief Darren Tabor turned in his resignation to Mayor David Burch.

Initially, the Mayor had thought it was an “ongoing kind of joke” that he hadn’t taken seriously before. Then Burch found out that Tabor wasn’t joking and that he was serious.

“That came from left field,” said Burch. “He’s been saying for a couple years he was going to retire…and I always kind of blew it off.”

Burch stated that, “(Darren) is a very strong advocate for his department” and that has led to some differences of opinion at times. However, Burch said it has left him with a strong respect for Tabor.

“It’s a tough job being the Chief,” Burch stated. “He’s been the Chief at least six, seven, eight years, I think.”

Under Mayor Burch’s leadership and Chief Darren Tabor’s administration of the Scottsville Police, they’ve seen the department become accredited, a forensics clerk hired and a handful of new officers brought on to expand the force.

It was also recently announced that the Scottsville Police Department would be a committed part of the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force along with the Allen County Sheriffs Office. Tabor had expressed his gratitude to the acquisition of resources through finances and equipment that would make their job easier to do.

Mayor Burch went on to say that Tabor’s retirement “just probably came down to burnout” while also stating that Tabor has a large farm and a family that’s growing.

If the resignation of the Police Chief was unexpected, it was unusual as to who is replacing him: former Chief Deputy with the Allen County Sheriffs Office Danny Wilson.

“Normally, the succession would be if you’re an assistant Chief or assistant whatever, you would move right up and that is the normal,” Burch admitted. “I felt like this was an opportunity to reset the department.”

The Mayor went on to say, “Garrett Wolfe (Assistant Police Chief) is a great guy and he’s a great police officer. This is not a reflection on him whatsoever. I told the City Council this is not a reflection on Garrett Wolfe becoming Chief.” Instead, Burch framed it as “what you are all deciding is trusting the Mayor to make the best decision at this season in the city. I felt like bringing someone in from outside the department, although he is a police officer, I felt like this was the best thing to do at this time.”

The former Chief Deputy Sheriff, Burch says, brings with him “was exactly what I wanted. He has a military background, he’s been deployed, he’s made many decisions, managed decisions, personnel decisions and all those kinds of things.” It was also the “strong foundation of experience, of values and leadership to the Police Department and I honestly felt this was the best decision.”

It was a decision that Burch admitted raised questions among the City Council members.

“I basically asked the City Council to trust me. They’re not voting on anybody, they not even really voting on Danny Wilson. They’re really voting on my recommendation. It could have been anybody but I asked them to trust me and vote in favor of my recommendation because of me, because of what I want to do and what I’m going to accomplish.”

It also raised question with the Mayor’s wife who is close friends with Wolfe’s wife, Nikki.

To that though, Mayor Burch re-emphasized that Garrett Wolfe “is a great police officer” who has “served the city well and he will continue, I hope, in that capacity” and that it’s not a “reflection on Garrett Wolfe as an officer or a person.”

“I know that he’s confused and his feelings are hurt and I totally get that,” said Burch. “I just felt like this was the best decision for now and what I hope to accomplish through this partly is a strong relationship between the city and the county.”

Still, the timing and the speed of all this happening has raised questions. It’s something that Burch himself acknowledged.

“It was all very quick, I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s very abrupt, very quick…What I did once I realized that Darren really was serious, I felt like I had to make a quick decision and that’s exactly what I did. I just hope that people understand that I feel like they have to trust my judgment and that I’m doing what’s best overall.”

The Scottsville City Council, despite questions and concerns they had, took up the vote to approve Mayor Burch’s nomination of Danny Wilson to the position of Police Chief.

The Mayor stated, “The Sheriff ain’t happy with me. He’s like, ‘I’m losing my top officer’ and I knew when I approached Danny that would be an issue because that’s a big hole to fill. But I totally respect Brandon Ford as a Sheriff. I respect his department and what he’s brought to that department”

As the new Chief Danny Wilson settles into his role, the outgoing Chief Darren Tabor will remain with the Police Department. The plan is to stay on until August of 2026.

The new Chief, Danny Wilson, also spoke with The Citizen-Times.

“Me and him (David Burch) had spoken about it (being Police Chief) and I was well aware he was going to make the recommendation to the city council,” said Wilson.

When asked if he thought it was unusual for the Chief Deputy of the Sheriffs Office to be recommended and approved as the next Chief of Police, Wilson stated, “I think in law enforcement, especially on the leadership side, I don’t think anything like that would be unusual. If you’re looking to bring a guy in to basically just build on to what the other guy had left him, I don’t think it matters where that guy has come from if you feel like he’s the right guy for the job.”

With the prevailing mindset that this is Allen County-Scottsville and the Sheriffs Office and Police Department share the same basic jurisdiction, Wilson went on to say that it shouldn’t be unusual for a community such as ours. “Policing is policing, we’re not reinventing the wheel here,” added Wilson.

As Mayor Burch stated, Wilson comes with military experience and has been deployed into combat situations. Wilson elaborated on his military service and how he believes that will help him.

“I graduated in ’98 from here and went to the United States Marine Corps after 9/11. I was a Marine infantry guy and I served in the invasion in 2003 of Iraq. My second deployment I was an infantry team leader. I had a small team of Marines that I led in combat operations in Iraq. After that, I ended up coming back and I earned my Bachelor’s Degree from Lee University and then I went on to continue my military career. I just switched sides and went over to the Air Guard. I continued my career there as a Combat Arms Instructor. My main job there was just to lead, train and prepare guys for combat operations.”

Wilson fully retired from the military in February of 2025 with 22 years of experience. He achieved the rank of Master Sergeant.

Running congruent with his military career was also a career in law enforcement for the past 15 years where he served under Sheriff Cook as the Chief Deputy along with Sheriff Ford.

Darren Tabor, the former Police Chief for the Scottsville Police Department, was also present and gave a couple of tatements.

“I’m probably looking more at the end of my career in law enforcement here in the next year or so,” he said. “Mayor Burch has been great to work with on my end. I’ve been in administration here for 12 years. I was Assistant Chief for six years, Chief for six years. I was appointed Chief under Mayor Cline in 2019 and just came up on six years of that. When Mayor Cline retired and Mayor Burch took over, he chose to keep me on as Police Chief then.”

Tabor added, “I was ready for a change. I’ve been ready for a change for a little bit but I was ready for a change. I think it will be a good transitional period to work with Chief Wilson here. I want to do a little bit of a different role.”

It was made clear that Tabor will be remaining with the Police Department as their PR person, will be taking calls and whatever else needs to be done.

Tabor also echoed the sentiment that Chief Wilson stated, “Policing is policing. There’s no difference in policing from one side of the hall to the next. We’re all the same jurisdictional authority here.”

He even agreed with what Mayor Burch stated, believing that Chief Wilson “will bring some good, new, fresh ideas” into the Police Department. “Oftentimes in long periods of administration, things may get stale a little bit. So new ideas are good.”

The bottom line, Tabor stated, is that he and all the other police officers want to see the department move forward and be the best it can be.

In regards to how fast and unexpected this all was, Tabor clarified that he “talked about stepping down last year” and that he doesn’t believe “it’s as quick as it might seem.”

“Mayor Burch and I had this conversation last year. I had talked about it and we just kind of moved and went with it. But the opportunity came up (now).”

As for what he’ll do once his time is up completely at the Police Department, Tabor said he might take the time to focus on his farm but definitely on his family.

Officer Garrett Wolfe, the Assistant Police Chief declined commenting.