Newly appointed Oak Bluffs police chief Jonathan Searle will happily recount his time on the set of Jaws, playing the young boy who tricks beachgoers with a fake shark fin. But he’d much rather dive into a discussion about community policing, public service and finding the roots of societal problems.

“At the end of the day, we get all our power from the people,” Mr. Searle told the Gazette in an interview this week. “And we are the people.”

On June 14, Mr. Searle will be sworn in by the Oak Bluffs select board as the new chief of police, taking over for retiring chief Erik Blake. He began his career in law enforcement on the Island in 1986, working part time for the Edgartown police department. Two years later he turned full time, and has worked with the department ever since.

“Thirty-four years yesterday, May 24, 1988,” he said.

Mr. Searle rose to the level of sergeant with the Edgartown police force, and with his move up to chief he continues a family legacy: his father George Searle served as an Island police chief for over a decade.

“It is neat to follow in the footsteps,” Mr. Searle said.

On some level, Mr. Searle said he thinks public service is ingrained in his DNA. In addition to his father serving as the Edgartown police chief from 1981 to 1995, his mother was the supervisor of communications at the sheriff’s office.

“So it was always around me, it was always a part of my life,” he said.

Jonathan Searle began his career in law enforcement working part-time in Edgartown in 1986. — Jeanna Shepard

In his career with Edgartown, he helped lead a program called Project Outreach, pairing police officers with recovery coaches to help Islanders struggling with addiction. He is also the MV Hub liaison for Island law enforcement, an organization developed by Brian Morris linking at-risk Islanders to community resources.

“It’s police partnering with stakeholders in our community,” Mr. Searle said.

Mr. Searle said he feels much of policing should come from focusing on the source of a problem to find a solution rather than simple mitigation. In his work with MV Hub and on Project Outreach, this has meant extending a helping hand as long as necessary.

“We never give up,” he said. “Some are still struggling, but we’ll never turn our backs on them.”

Another pillar of his policing philosophy, he said, is rooted in the treatment of his officers. He said he feels officer health and well-being are paramount to an effective department.

“You’re asking people to go out and absorb other peoples’ traumas,” he said. “These are the things, emotionally, that can be devastating for officers.”

Mr. Searle’s community policing philosophy and ideas about the future of law enforcement are what he feels were lost when major news outlets picked up the story of his childhood moment in Jaws. He said he never expected anyone to think twice about it. He never did — it was just a story he had tucked in the back of his mind, coming up only when it felt relevant.

“It turned into ‘hey, this is the kid from the Jaws shark thing,’” Mr. Searle said.

Instead, he would rather look forward, to preparing the Oak Bluffs police department for the future. He said he is excited about this new chapter in his life, although he finds ending his long tenure in Edgartown bittersweet.

“For me, it’s in a positive way,” he said.

Looking back for a moment, Mr. Searle settled on his father and his time as chief in Edgartown. He said his father rarely talked shop around his family — just bits and pieces now and then.

“It wasn’t until he passed that we heard... stories of how, in one way or another, he helped [people],” Mr. Searle said.

It’s a tradition and a philosophy Mr. Searle said he wants to continue.

“Being a police chief is the best way I have found to apply my theory of law enforcement,” he said.