FAIRBORN — Interim chief of police Ben Roman has been selected to take the full-time position as chief at the Fairborn Police Department.

Roman has been serving as interim chief Terry Bennington retired as chief April 21. Roman said when he got the position that he had his application in for the full-time position and was excited to work as the interim chief for the department.

The swearing in ceremony will take place this Friday, after which Roman’s new position will be official.

While Roman said he had “no concerns” with the state of the department or urgent changes that need to be made, he said he will focus on recruitment and additional staffing within the department.

“We need to get our staffing up,” said Roman. “Recruitment and hiring are at the forefront of what we want to do.”

The department is down three officers already, according to Roman, and along with filling in these positions, he wants to add two other positions to the staff.

“I’d like to add an additional detective position,” said Roman, as well as an officer to give education classes to the community and increase social media presence.

Another improvement Roman mentioned making in the police department is in the volunteer program, which he said has not been promoted well enough in the past.

Before the promotion to interim chief of police, Roman served as one of four captains; now that he has officially been brought on and left his previous position, there will now be another hiring process to find a new captain. According to Roman, this hiring process will happen internally.

Overall, Roman said he is optimistic about the future of the department.

“I think we’re in a good place,” he said. “We have a young staff so they’re motivated and service-oriented.”

Contact Ethan Charles at 937-502-4532.