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Former Police Chief Reinstated In Monroeville

MONROEVILLE (KDKA) -- Doug Cole got his former job back tonight as Monroeville Police Chief.

Monroeville Council members voted 7 to 0 tonight to reinstate Cole, which means he'll be back in the Police Chief's office bright and early tomorrow morning.

It's been a roller coaster of a year for Cole.

He was demoted to Sgt. last February, by former Municipal Manager Lynette McKinney, who's no longer in office, and four council members, who all lost their re-election bids in the May Primary election.

Four new council members said they all backed Cole as their community's top cop.

Later in 2013, Cole was placed on administrative leave following a hearing and was then fired.

But, in November, a court appointed arbitrator ruled in Cole's favor, saying his contract was, in fact, violated, when he was originally demoted.

After tonight's unanimous vote, Cole took the oath of office as Police Chief, with his 83-yead-old father at his side holding a bible. Cole told KDKA-TV News tonight, "I go into this job with my eyes wide open, certainly, it's a dream come true for me, and always has been a dream come true, to be chief law enforcement community where you were born and raised."

Cole said he thought he would never have been reinstated, had he not received so much community support over the past year.

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