The Mayor and Police Chief of Pennsylvania don’t plan on pulling Love Island USA season 8 contestant Sean Reifel for a chat when he’s finished filming in Fiji.
Sean was affronted by his superiors for leaving his duties as an officer behind to compete on Peacock’s juggernaut dating show.
From officer to aspiring influencer:
Bethlehem, PA’s Mayor J. William Reynolds blamed the 29-year-old for allegedly leaving the Bethlehem Police Department short-staffed less than a year after he was sworn in to be on reality TV.
“Our police department spent a lot of time training and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” explained the mayor to WHTM. “We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year.”
“I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”
A second opinion:
Police Chief Michelle Kott, Sean’s former boss, also voiced their disappointment over his resignation on The Morning Call. “I love Sean. He’s a good guy. He was a great officer, but I’m disappointed.”
“We work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department.”
According to Kott, Sean’s gig as a cop is likely over. “At this time, I don’t think there’d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for ‘x’ amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone’s hurting right now. Overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps.”
“Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me.”
Despite Sean’s future likely being outside of law enforcement, he introduced himself as a cop during his opening package for Love Island USA. “I’m not a model, I’m not an actor, I’m a police officer, actually.”
“You could be having the worst day of your life, and I’ll just help you sift through that.”
