Back in 1975 off the beach of the fictional Amity Island, a pair of brothers placed a fake shark fin in the waters to terrify swimmers.
Of course, we all know what happened next when a giant, rubber shark terrorized movie screens for months and led Jaws to be the highest grossing film (until it was unseated by Star Wars a few years later).
One of those boys with the fake shark fin was actor Jonathan Searle, who was recently appointed the new chief of police of the very town where the movie was filmed.
Amity in the film was actually the town of Oaks Bluff, Massachusetts, where Jonathan Searle grew up. Searle's father was the police chief of Oaks Bluff. However, in the movie, Roy Scheider played the role of police chief.
Perhaps Jonathan was following in his father's footsteps, or perhaps it was Scheider's line – "I'm the police chief; I can do anything" – that gave him a thirst for power, but for some reason Jonathan gave up being an actor and went into law enforcement.
Searle has served on the force in Oak Bluffs since 1986, and this isn't the first time his life has emulated the movie he's famous for. Once in 2008, he had to bust a prankster warning people about sharks in the water, just like he did as a boy.
When asked about what he thought about life imitating art as he donned the title of police chief, he just laughed and said,
"I'm finding the whole thing quite funny myself!" [But he hopes that's as far as it goes,] saying he wants to focus on catching criminals on dry land — not deadly sea life skulking in nearby waters.
With all the media buzz surrounding his promotion, I think Police Chief Searle is going to need a bigger boat just to get away from it all.
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