CAPE CARTERET, N.C. – Former Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston has been introduced as the new Chief of Police for the town of Carteret, North Carolina. Preston was introduced to the town’s Board of Commissioners Monday night.
Cape Carteret is situated along the Bogue Sound with a population of just over 2,200 people. Preston, who was selected out of a pool of 20 candidates, will oversee a department that employs 14 officers.
Preston served as Morgantown’s Police Chief for nearly a decade. He took over in 2011, succeeding Chief Phil Scott, after spending 19 years with the police department in New Bern, NC. Preston also served six years in the United States Marine Corps. He was appointed to the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Executive Board in 2017 and is a published author. Preston has written textbooks on policing principles and police training.
Preston resigned from his position in April 2020 as the city grappled with diminished tax revenues caused by the pandemic shutdown, to preserve the jobs of other officers in the department. At the time, city council approved $3.1 million in budget reductions and department heads were instructed to slash spending.
Since leaving Morgantown, Preston has grown his company, Benchmark Professional Seminars, providing training for local, county state, and federal law enforcement agencies around the country.