RED SPRINGS — The town will be looking for a new police chief after this week’s announcement that Troy McDuffie is leaving to take over the embattled Spring Lake Police Department in neighboring Cumberland County.

McDuffie, who was introduced in Spring Lake at a news conference Thursday, will begin his new job on Dec. 14. Until then he will continue to work in Red Springs, where he has been chief for three years.

His temporary replacement has already been lined up, said Red Springs Town Manager Tony White on Friday.

Steve Gillikin, who retired this year as police chief in Smithfield, has been offered a three-month contract by White. He served as police chief there for 12 years, and worked as a lieutenant with the Cary Police Department before that.

White wanted to bring the interim police chief on board while McDuffie was still at the department.

“I wanted a couple of days of transition,” White said.

Gillikin comes highly recommended, White said.

“In those three months we can do a thorough search and pick a chief that is well suited for the town,” White said.

Hiring the police chief is the town manager’s responsibility. White said he’s looking for someone with experience, professionalism, and “someone who has an understanding of what the citizens of a small down require of their police chief.”

White complimented McDuffie’s level of professionalism and “his ability to build relationships with other entities like the county Sheriff’s Department.”

McDuffie did a great job building a relationship with the county District Attorney’s Office too, White said.

“Due to his diligence and his eye for detail, the arrest and conviction ratio increased,” said White.

The Red Springs Police Department employs about 22 people, and its current annual budget is nearly $1.3 million.

McDuffie, 46, grew up in Fayetteville. He began his job as police chief in Red Springs on May 3, 2006, after serving as chief deputy of the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office for four years. McDuffie replaced Lum Edwards, who retired in February 2006.

McDuffie was with the Fayetteville Police Department for 16 years before joining the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office. He has a degree in criminal justice and served four years in the U.S. Army.

“I leave Red Springs knowing that ... we sincerely worked hard with some limited resources to keep this community safe,” McDuffie said in a phone call Friday.

“And we’ve accomplished some great things, like taking down of the Compound ... ridding the town of prostitution, of drug activity and drug houses,” he said.

McDuffie’s reference to the Compound relates to Operation Hot Soup.

On May 30, 2008, more than 120 federal, state and local law enforcement agents moved in on the Compound in a rural area about two miles outside of Red Springs.

The Compound was secured by the ATF Special Response Team with air support from the N.C. National Guard while the Red Springs Police Department, ATF agents, Hoke County sheriff's deputies and members of the Fayetteville Police Department's K-9 Team combed the area.

In all, 10 defendants have pleaded guilty in federal court to drug offenses as part of the operation.

McDuffie was on the job late Friday, talking on his cell phone from an operation to shut down a drug house on Haywood Street.

McDuffie will take over a troubled department in Spring Lake, one that is currently unable to make arrests or obtain warrants.

Police officers were stripped of those powers by a Cumberland County judge following the arrest this year of two supervising officers after a State Bureau of Investigation probe, and the resignation of Police Chief A.C. Brown.