Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Mayor J. William Reynolds publicly criticized a former police officer for quitting the force to join a reality TV show.

In an interview with WHTM, Mayor Reynolds slammed “Love Island USA” cast member Sean Reifel for costing the city thousands of dollars in training expenses.

“Our police department spent a lot of time training and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy. We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year. I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”

In an interview with The Morning Call, Bethlehem’s Police Chief Michelle Knott said she was “disappointed” in Sean’s decision to quit. She said department policy doesn’t allow an officer to take a leave of absence to appear on a reality TV show. So he quit the police force.

“At this time, I don’t think there’d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for ‘x’ amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone’s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps,” Knott said. “Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me.”

Sean’s family members defended his decision to quit his job to be a contestant on season 8 of “Love Island USA.”

In a social media post, his sister wrote:

“Sean’s sister here. This could have been a great opportunity for the mayor and police department to connect with the community, generate positive publicity for the town, and help improve perceptions of law enforcement.”

She continued, “Instead, they chose a response that will likely reinforce the stereotypes they should be working to change. That said, I couldn’t be more excited for my brother and this amazing opportunity. We’ll be cheering him on every step of the way.”

Sean is a 29-year-old single father of a 2-year-old boy.

Reality TV veteran Derrick Levasseur said the police department missed an opportunity to build community connections through Sean’s participation.