As we roll in to the month of February I realize that I am already a month behind in “message from the Chief”. Throughout the month of January I received numerous reminders that a January message had not been posted, as you can imagine the month of January was extremely busy with the transition in leadership combined with the fact that crime did not take a holiday. So…here we go.

          First off let me start by saying thank you for the support and notes of encouragement that I have received, your votes of confidence and suggestions are greatly appreciated. A goal for me as the Chief of Police is to focus on the relationship between the Powell PD and the community; we desire to be known as the Powell Police Department, as opposed to the people who police Powell.  Several months ago I was going through the checkout in a local grocery store.  I was not in uniform, and the clerk looked at me and said, “you are one of our officers, aren’t you?”  Of course I responded by saying “yes”, but ever since that day I have thought about that statement, “our officers”. That is where we need to be. The Powell Police Department is part of Powell, and the citizens of Powell are a part of the Powell Police Department. We live here, shop here, our kids go to school here, we are your neighbors, friends and acquaintances, sometimes we’re popular, and sometimes we’re not.             In addition to my obvious duty requirements, I hope to be able to spend time out in the community with you, to hear your comments, concerns, and of course pats on the back are always welcome. Having grown up in farm/ranching and oil communities I know that the majority of the world’s problems are solved around the tables in our coffee shops, just no one is there to hear the input. If I don’t make it to your table, it’s not intentional; there are a lot of tables, just let me know.           Depending on where you are from, some 100 years ago the people of our communities took turns performing “watchman” duties, walking our business and rattling doors in the wee hours of the morning. They then worked at their jobs during the day. At some point a group of these individuals stood up and said, “Hey, this night watchman thing is getting pretty demanding and I still have to run my business too. Maybe we should hire someone to do this full time”. This evolved into what you know today as your police department. The model has changed over the years, from night watchman, to a reactive model where you call and we come, to a professional model – which is where we are now, we still come when you call but we provide additional services and work to interdict crime before it occurs through strategies, prevention measures and so on. Ok, I’m getting off task, we can delve farther into that in the future.  Ultimately what is important is that we, the community and the police department, are in this together.  We got off to a great start this year, with an arrest being made in the Powell Drug burglary and a drug search warrant resulting in the seizure of cocaine and drug monies, but all this was possible only due to the hard, competent work of our Officers combined with the input and cooperation of our citizens. Again we are in this together. One of my favorite quotes comes from Robert Peel in the early 1800’s, "The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence." --- Robert Peel.  More to follow next month, thanks for your ear…

 

Roy

 

Roy Eckerdt

Chief of Police

Powell Police

250 N. Clark St.

Powell, WY  82435

307-754-2212

307-754-2214 (FAX)

reckerdt@cityofpowell.com