In another life, Jonathan Searle would be charging the fictional, childhood version of himself with a crime on Martha's Vineyard.
Searle, who had a minor role in the 1975 blockbuster "Jaws" as one of the Amity pranksters who placed a fake shark fin in the panicked waters, has been named police chief in the town of Oak Bluffs on the island.
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The story was first reported by the Vineyard Gazette. The board of selectmen voted in favor of Searle, 3-1, with one member recusing themselves because he is a police sergeant in Edgartown on the Vineyard.
Searle appeared along with his brother in the Steven Spielberg film which was set on a fictional town on Long Island but filmed on the Vineyard, where a great white shark was wreaking havoc on beachgoers.
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Searle has been on the force on the Vineyard since 1986, according to the Gazette.
In 2008, Searle charged a man with disorderly conduct for, incredibly, almost exactly what he'd done in the movie: Lying and telling beachgoers he'd seen a pair of great whites off the island.
"I'm clearly elated and I'm humbled and honored to have been offered the position," Searle told the Gazette. "It’s something I've been working toward my whole career."
