For the third time in 12 months, the city of South Haven is looking for a new police chief.
It was nearly one year ago, in May of 2024, that 32-year career veteran Natalie Thompson announced her retirement plans from the post. Her retirement was supposed to be effective in February 2025.
After a lengthy search and a commitment to work with the Michigan Municipal League’s executive search team, South Haven announced a replacement for Thompson last December, putting Kevin Swope, a 25-year law enforcement officer from Dearborn Heights, into the role in January.
However, Swope lasted less than a month before resigning for personal reasons.
One month later, the city announced another replacement, offering the role to Dennis Honholt — the chief of police and public safety director in Dover, Tennessee.
Honholt was sworn in for the South Haven role on April 1.
Earlier this week, anonymous tips were shared with WSJM indicating Honholt was unqualified for the role for several — mostly unconfirmed — reasons. One area that was confirmed came through a news article first appearing in a Dover, Tennessee publication, the Stewart County Standard. The article quoted local officials saying Honholt was still on the Dover payroll as police chief.
After the publication of the article, WSJM’s news coverage, and a growing outcry on social media, the city of South Haven issued a statement indicating Honholt had resigned his role.
The statement:
“Police Chief Dennis Honholt has resigned. City leadership was shocked and disappointed to learn Honholt failed to resign his position in Tennessee once he accepted the position as our police chief. When Honholt was hired on April 1, it was with the explicit understanding that serving as our police chief was to be his exclusive employment. We have accepted Honholt’s resignation. We share the community’s deep frustration over the turnover in this key leadership role and are working to appoint an interim leader for the department.”
The past two times there’s been a police chief vacancy, the city has named Sergeant Pat Carlotto, a 25-year member of the South Haven Police Department, as interim chief of police. It’s unclear if Carlotto will be asked to fill that role — or be willing — a third time.
The next South Haven City Council meeting is set for May 5. It’s likely there will be public scrutiny over the police chief selection process and how background verification is conducted.