Hillsborough names Durham officer as police chief

Hampton, who was chosen from almost 200 applicants, will start Nov. 1 and will be paid a salary of $83,100. He replaces former Chief Clarence Birkhead, who resigned in April to make an unsuccessful run for Orange County sheriff.

leaders, business leaders, citizens and police department staff identified as critical for making Hillsborough an even safer community,” Hillsborough Town Manager Eric Peterson said in a statement. “Most importantly, I believe he will support and partner with the talented personnel already in the police department to develop ways to improve the quality of law enforcement services to Hillsborough’s citizens.”

Hampton started his career with the Durham Police Department in 1995. He has worked as a patrol officer, corporal, training corporal, investigations sergeant and staff inspection sergeant. Since January, he has served as the assistant division commander of Criminal Investigations, with responsibility for the operation of homicide, youth, fraud and domestic violence investigations units and the forensic services and property and evidence units.

“I am honored to be selected as Hillsborough’s chief of police and look forward to serving and becoming a part of the Hillsborough community,” Hampton said. “I plan to make it a priority to get to know the town and the department and be able to hit the ground running."

Hampton also has worked as a part-time police officer at Raleigh-Durham International Airport since 2002. He has an advanced law enforcement certificate and has been a criminal justice instructor since 1998. He earned a master of public administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last year and his Law Enforcement Supervisory Certificate from North Carolina State University in 2006. He also has a bachelor of arts degree from Virginia Tech.

The Hillsborough Police Department has 32 employees and a $2.5 million annual budget.