Gulf Shores Police Chief Ed Delmore is drawing national attention this week after an open letter he wrote sharply criticizing the leadership of a Missouri State Highway Patrol commander spread rapidly across social media, racking up tens of thousands of shares within a single day.
Delmore, who has led the Gulf Shores Police Department since 2010 after a long law enforcement career based in the St. Louis area, published the letter through a law enforcement trade publication. In it, he took aim at the commander who had been placed in charge of security operations following days of civil unrest in a St. Louis suburb tied to a police shooting earlier in the month.
The Baldwin County chief did not mince words, arguing that the commander’s approach, which included walking alongside protesters and promising a softer response, ultimately backfired once emotionally charged decisions about releasing information to the public were made under pressure. Delmore argued that decisions made for public relations purposes, rather than sound law enforcement strategy, put both officers and the community at greater risk.
What has made the letter resonate so widely, according to law enforcement observers, is Delmore’s background. Having spent more than three decades in policing, much of it in the same metropolitan region where the unrest was unfolding, he offered a rare insider’s critique from someone who understands both big-city crowd control challenges and the pressures of leading a department during a high-profile crisis.
Colleagues in Alabama describe Delmore as a typically low-key, measured leader, which only added to the surprise when his blunt assessment began circulating widely among police officers, forum communities and news outlets across the country. Local officials in Gulf Shores say the attention has put an unusual spotlight on the small beach city’s police department, which normally focuses on tourism-season enforcement and coastal public safety rather than national policy debates.
Delmore’s rise to the top law enforcement post in Gulf Shores came after years spent commanding departments in the Midwest, a background that residents and city officials have said gives him a broader perspective on department leadership and crisis response than many chiefs in similarly sized coastal communities.
City officials in Gulf Shores have not indicated whether Delmore plans further public comment on the matter, but the sudden surge of attention has, at least for now, placed the Baldwin County city in a national conversation far removed from its usual identity as a Gulf Coast tourist destination.