The Coal Grove Police Department got more attention last week than they would have liked, and not in a way they would have preferred.

It was revealed that an officer had resigned from the department after an unauthorized party, which took place just prior to Christmas, in which several people, who were not village employees, were seen on video with alcohol in the council chambers.

The village said this is because they were let into the building by the now former officer.

While the incident got a lot of attention, we hope it does not wrongly color the perception the public has of the work that the department’s chief, Bill Murphy, has done in the past year for the village.

Murphy was hired as chief about a year ago, after the previous chief, Randy Lewis, resigned, taking every officer of the village with him.

Since his hiring, Murphy has been tasked with rebuilding the department and has successfully done so.

Coming from many years of service to the village of Proctorville, Murphy has a solid reputation and it should be noted that he immediately took action once the situation regarding the party came to his attention.

And the chief was open and forthcoming, as he always is, with information regarding the incident.

He handled this situation well, once he was notified of what happened, and made the right call.

The poor choice and actions of one officer should not tarnish the overall good job Murphy has done since taking over in Coal Grove.