Christine May-Stafford, Whitman’s first female police chief, has been granted permission by selectmen to step down from that position and assume the rank of lieutenant on July 6 for family reasons. “She has a young daughter and she wants to spend more time with her family,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “A police chief’s job is day and night.” Deputy Police Chief Scott Benton will step in as provisional police chief until next year, when a Civil Service exam can be administered and a search conducted, Lynam said. “Chiefs’ exams are only given in May,” he said. “We probably won’t have the results until August.”