Life imitates art: ‘Jaws’ extra named police chief

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. — A man who as a child had a brief but key role in “Jaws” has been named police chief on the Massachusetts island on which the 1975 movie was partially filmed.

Jonathan Searle was offered the job of police chief in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard last week.

“I’m clearly elated and and I’m humbled and honored to have been offered the position,” Searle, currently a sergeant with Edgartown police, told the Vineyard Gazette, which first reported the appointment.

The movie centers on the efforts of a police chief in a fictional resort town trying to rid the local waters of a killer shark. Scenes were filmed in various locations on Martha’s Vineyard.

In the movie, Searle played one of two boys who send beachgoers into a panic by swimming around with a fake shark’s fin.

Searle, whose father was police chief in Edgartown, takes over in Oak Bluffs next month.