In a couple of open houses held this week, the two candidates for Juneau’s next police chief fielded questions from the audience and presented presentations on police work in the community. The city manager Rorie Watt said that he anticipates the city to announce an announcement in the next week.
Derek Bos has been police chief in Eagle, Colorado since last October. Bos said he’s had an eyes on Juneau for a long time after applying for chief positions elsewhere in Southeast Alaska towns.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Juneau’s been the location we’ve been following for around five years, actually as a objective,” he said.
Another winner, Krag Campbell is employed by his Juneau Police Department since 2002. He said he’s had fun increasing his responsibilities as he progressed into the ranks of lieutenant.
It’s a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”At the level of a chief I hold the highest amount of power to effect positive changes within the police department” Campbell said. “I believe that at this point, I feel that I’m in a position to be able to work with the community and to really strive to provide a service that’s beneficial to the entire community. .”
Campbell claimed that Juneau’s solitary nature implies that police will never be off duty, leading to a sense of responsibility.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”You cannot be in the public eye after removing your badge” Campbell said. “I cannot come to this place and be a police officer remove the badge and then drive about an hour or so and pretend my actions do not affect the community. .”
Campbell declared that he would concentrate on solving staffing issues within the department. A quarter of its posts were vacant in the this month. The CEO said that keeping staff in the forefront of his list of priorities.
It’s a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”The toughest part is that you’ve got officers who have to work more and more fill in the gaps left by the missing persons,” Campbell said. “And they begin to burn out. .”
Bos stated that his method to establish relationships with communities is to do so through schools and churches.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”As police, the majority those we have contact with aren’t exactly pleasant. They’re often not loving. But, the faith-based community is most likely the best chance that we can have to engage with the vulnerable individuals within our communities and to build these relationships.”
He also said that having teachers in schools is a successful way of attracting students.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We’re better off with it, in terms of learning and engaging with the future police officers,” Bos said. “Let’s start with our children. Make sure they are engaged, and perhaps they’ll .”
Before he was appointed to the post of police chief at Eagle, Bos was chief of police in Brush, Colorado, where he supervised the investigation of 2022. The probe focused on two Colorado school administrators who had explicit images of a minor as evidence in an investigation into sexting. In the past, Colorado news outlets reported that such cases were not common and the investigation was a source of contention for the town.
Three members of the audience questioned the presenter about it.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>” Colorado law is a stark in black and white. You are the one who have committed a crime. We aren’t sure what their motive was, and we’re unable to establish that they had a motive. However, it was a highly controversial issue in part because of the identities of those involved and relationships with the community,” Bos said. “I was extremely comfortable with the way we handled the issue. .”
Judge dismissed charges as did the school board, which reinstated both of the administrators.
A third finalist Joshua Kingsbury from New Mexico, dropped out earlier in the week and cited personal reasons.
