Photos from Hoover Police Department Facebook page
Scott McDonald, left, is the new assistant chief of the Hoover Police Department. Sean Stephen, right, is the new executive officer, another member of the command staff.
Hoover police Chief Clay Morris on Tuesday named a new assistant police chief and executive officer — one coming from within the Hoover Police Department and one from outside.
Scott McDonald, who has been a captain in the Hoover Police Department since March 2021 and spent almost 25 years in the department, working his way up through the ranks, has been named assistant chief.
Sean Stephen, a 30-year law enforcement veteran who has been assistant chief in Pell City under Morris, was named Hoover’s new executive officer.
McDonald replaces Norman McDuffey, who is retiring after almost 25 years with the Hoover Police Department, and Stephen replaces Kenny Fountain, who retired after at least 28 years with the department.
SCOTT MCDONALD
McDonald obtained his criminal justice degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and began his law enforcement career with the Irondale Police Department in 1998. He joined the Hoover Police Department in 2001. During his career, he has served as a uniformed patrol officer, K-9 handler, field training officer, instructor, Special Response Team member, Honor Guard member and detective.He has been promoted through the ranks and held supervisory positions in the patrol, administration and investigations divisions. He most recently was assigned as commander of the Investigative Services Bureau, which handles crimes against people, crimes against property, financial crimes, special victims cases, interstate criminal enforcement, special investigations, crime scene investigations and police records.
McDonald is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Nationally, fewer than 1% of officers have the opportunity to attend that program. He also has earned a master’s degree in public safety from the University of Virginia.
SEAN STEPHEN
Stephen began his law enforcement career in 1995 as a patrol officer in West Chester, Pennsylvania. After assignments to both the patrol and narcotics divisions, in 2002, he joined the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Stephen spent a career targeting large-scale drug trafficking organizations, Mexican drug cartels and violent criminal gangs.
During a 20-year career with the DEA, he served as a special agent in San Diego and Birmingham and a group supervisor over enforcement groups in Birmingham and Huntsville. Stephen spent time as the acting assistant special agent in charge of all DEA offices in Alabama and finished his career with DEA as a staff coordinator at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, overseeing the DEA’s foreign operations in Asia and Africa.Stephen retired from the DEA in 2022 and joined the Pell City Police Department, where he served as the assistant police chief until now. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a master’s degree in criminal justice from West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
