Chief Chuck Ternent joined the Cumberland Police Department in 1992 and is in charge of operations for the department. Chief Ternent served for many years as a Detective assigned to the Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit C3I. In 2003, Chief Ternent was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was assigned a patrol shift. In 2012, Ternent was promoted to Lieutenant and designated as the department's CALEA Accreditation manager. In March of 2015, the department was successfully awarded full accreditation status through the Commission for the Accreditation in Law Enforcement Agencies.
Chief Ternent was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2019, and became Chief of Police in 2020.
Chief Ternent is a 2008 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Police Executive Leadership Program Session XIII and holds a Master’s Degree in Management from Johns Hopkins University as well as a Bachelor’s Degree from Frostburg University and Associate’s Degree from Allegany College.