Collingdale Borough Council drops controversial police chief candidate — then hires an unknown leader

COLLINGDALE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Collingdale Borough Council in Delaware County caused an uproar Tuesday night when it appointed a police chief who some council members — including the mayor — were unfamiliar with. They made the surprise appointment after removing a controversial candidate from consideration.

More than 100 people packed the meeting, many of them initially there to oppose the appointment of Rhaheem Blanden as top cop. He is currently under investigation for allegedly tipping off an attempted homicide suspect minutes before a raid earlier this year, police union officials said.

When Council Vice President Stacey Calhoun informed the crowd that Blanden was no longer a candidate, many attendees breathed a sigh of relief — then the council appointed a different candidate, Selinsgrove Police Chief Shanee Mitchell. That brought the already-tense room to a fever pitch .

Collingdale Mayor Donna Matteo-Spadea said she and the rest of the voting minority know practically nothing about the newly appointed chief.

“It’s a shock to us,” she said. “We were blindsided by this tonight. Not one of the three of us have met her. Apparently some of the other council members have. I don’t know who has and who hasn’t.”

Delaware County Fraternal Order of Police President Christopher Eiserman said Collingdale made the right move removing Blanden but misstepped in hastily appointing Mitchell.

“I think all council should have been notified and the police union,” he said. “I talked to the council president [Ryan Hastings] on Thursday and he gave no indication there was another name. He has no idea what’s going on. He has no idea how to run a municipal government.”

“Mr. Hastings just does whatever he wants to do,” added Matteo-Spadea, “and he has a force with people that they just follow whatever he wants them to do.”

Former Councilmember Shannon Murphy echoed the mayor’s frustrations.

“How do you have a chief of police that has never met the mayor?” she asked. “That is her boss. Please, somebody needs to make this make sense. You can’t just hire people and nobody knows about them.”

Collingdale Borough Council voted out the previous police chief, Patrick Kilroy, in June.