Salem Police Chief Sends Out Cat Call For April Fools' Day

SALEM, MA —Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller decided to scratch the surface of a little humor on his first April Fools' Day leading the city's police force.

Miller came up with perhaps the "purrfect" public safety joke of the day on Friday when he announced the creation of the "Feline Division" in the Salem Police Department to "better represent the pet population of the City of Salem."

The bit comes two weeks after the department welcomed an actual four-legged recruit in the new Salem community resource dog Derby.

"The Feline Division employs a cadre of highly trained police cats tasked with preserving claw and order in the alleyways of Salem and will assist Derby, our new community resource dog, in community relations events, particularly in outreach initiatives to the city's pet population," he posted on social media Friday morning.

The "pet project" — as Chief Miller described it — was to be under the guidance of Captain Mistoffelees - who bears the name of the main character in the Broadway hit "Cats."

"The Feline Division will be a significant cost-saver for the city as police cats eat much less than traditional police K9s and with cats having nine lives, their time in service will be greatly extended," Miller posted. "According to Captain Mistoffelees and other eminent felinologists, cats are much better suited for police work as they are smarter and stealthier than dogs and have far fewer accidents on the carpet or in cruisers."

Miller concluded with a "Happy April Fools' Day" wish to residents.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)