Tisbury’s new police chief, Daniel Hanavan, is pretty much the polar opposite of his ebullient, literary and tempestuous predecessor, John Cashin. And Mr. Hanavan is not unhappy when comparisons are made.

Put it to him that he is exceedingly laconic, and his response proves the point: “Yep.”

Say that this contrasts sharply with Chief Cashin, who would talk under wet concrete, and Mr. Hanavan briefly laughs and says in his uninflected way: “He sure had the gift of the gab. The Irish in him, I guess. That’s not me.”

Indeed, no.

Where Chief Cashin’s utterances before town meeting or the selectmen were expansive and polysyllabic, Mr. Hanavan’s are terse. Mr. Cashin loved the arts; Mr. Hanavan’s recreations tend more toward the physical and the solitary. Mr. Cashin read the classics; Mr. Hanavan reads military histories.

All of which, you would have to say, goes to his credit. For if you had to sum up what the Tisbury selectmen wanted in their new police chief, it would be Dan Hanavan.

They wanted stolid. They wanted unflappable. They wanted, above all, someone who kept his thoughts to himself.

For those who have forgotten, or were somewhere else in the world in May last year, John Cashin melted down in spectacular fashion. In media interviews, he railed that his own police department was dysfunctional and that officers were insubordinate and abused their entitlements. He claimed that a cabal was out to get him and had spread “vile, preposterous and outrageous” rumors about him. He threatened legal action for defamation, accused the selectmen of undermining his authority and challenged them to choose between him and his enemies.

Well, the selectmen made their choice, and John Cashin was gone within a week. Then they elevated Dan Hanavan, long-serving patrolman, to the position of acting chief.

It was supposed to be an interim thing, while they got a report from consultant Robert Wasserman into the operation of the department — which did have a long history of internal problems — and cast about for a permanent replacement.

But the consultant’s report was a long time coming, and Tisbury didn’t advertise for a new chief, pending the inquiry’s findings.

When the interim report landed a few days ago, it found things had substantially improved since Mr. Hanavan stepped in, and so on Tuesday the board finally offered the job to Dan the Man. And he was happy to accept.

But ask him to tell you about himself and he turns reticent.

“Well, what’s there to say? I’m not used to having stories written about me,” he says.

He grew up in the suburbs outside Buffalo, N.Y. He went to Syracuse University and graduated with a business degree. He attended graduate school at Northesatern University in Boston, where he obtained a master’s degree in criminal justice. From there it was on to being a cop.

“Let’s see, I spent a few summers working with the sheriff’s department and I did one summer with Edgartown, back in 1982, and I liked the job. Then I started with Tisbury in 1989.

“I enjoy dealing with the public. I think community policing’s important to the town. You know, getting to know the people, the owners of the stores,” he says.

He is married and has no children.

What’s distinctive about policing on Martha’s Vineyard?

“Well, you run the gamut here,” he says. “The midnight shifts, the evening shifts from 4 to 12, you can deal with alcohol-related problems, drunk driving, car accidents, noise complaints, house parties.

“In the day you get some interesting things, larceny, or people stealing. And just this past year there’s been some dealings with sex offenses. There’s domestics, the occasional rape.”

And what does he make of the Wasserman report?

“I think it’s being finalized,” he says, adding: “I think things are working better and we have a group of talented officers that want to serve the public.”

And in his down time?

“I have a bike I like to ride. I jog a bit, maybe do some physical fitness stuff. Maybe I’ll take up a little tennis this summer. I enjoy going to the beach and just lying there soaking up the sun. Taking a cool dip in the ocean.”