Hallowell police Chief Chris Giles has resigned, City Manager Ross McLellan confirmed Friday.

Giles became chief just 16 months ago and now becomes the third chief to leave the Hallowell Police Department since early 2023. His resignation was effective immediately and was accepted Tuesday morning, McLellan said.

Giles had served as interim chief twice before becoming the full-time head of the department in December 2024 — each time following the departure of Hallowell’s chief to serve as a patrol officer in Gardiner. He was expected to be paid a salary of about $98,000 in the coming fiscal year, McLellan said.

Giles declined comment.

Giles’ time as chief was marked, initially, by a staffing crisis. The department employed just two officers when Giles’ predecessor, Christopher Lewis, left for Gardiner. As soon as the City Council implemented a $4 per hour pay raise for officers, applications flooded in, and staffing rebounded.

He also oversaw contentious budgeting deliberations on the staffing of the department. A vacant fifth police officer position had been frozen during drastic mid-year budget cuts in 2024, and Giles advocated for the position to be reinstated in the current fiscal year — it was.

During his tenure at the Hallowell Police Department, Giles has overseen two of the higher-profile arrests in recent central Maine memory.

In June 2024, while Giles was a sergeant, Hallowell police charged then-Manchester Fire Chief Francis Wozniak for impersonating a public official after he allegedly displayed blue lights on his town-owned truck and told people he was a “constable.” Wozniak accepted a plea deal to the improper exercise of emergency vehicle lights in July.

In August, Hallowell police arrested then-Capitol Police Chief Matthew Clancy for assaulting an officer at the Quarry Tap Room on Water Street. Clancy resigned in October.

McLellan said he is in the early stages of determining who will serve as interim chief over the five-officer department. He said it’s possible that “somebody from the outside” will be appointed.

In the meantime, he said, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office will take on extra patrols, as needed, to cover Giles’ shifts; Hallowell’s chief maintains regular patrols, unlike many larger departments.

McLellan is expected to speak about Giles’ resignation and next steps at Monday’s City Council meeting.