 MONTHLY
COLUMN (C-T)
By Jon Maples, Chief, City of Chillicothe Police Department
February
14, 2018 - Serving, Protecting, Partnering - We have been doing this for three months now and things are starting to settle. I say we, because I am partnering with the community and leading the Police Department staff. We have accomplished several tasks in this three months.
The Chillicothe Police Department staff is working hard in protecting and serving our community. We have been busy in
investigations, calls for service, and our new community partnership
programs. We have implemented our Coffee with a Cop event, church security programs, youth safety talks, and working on our first ever
Citizen's Police Academy. Our goal is to serve and protect the
citizens but to also partner with the community to better serve them. I have also implemented with my staff that we eat lunch with kiddos at the different schools in Chillicothe. We want to be seen as people and let the community know that we are here for them.
I say we are busy, but let me show you. Here are some of our end
stats as of the end of 2017: we took 38,899 calls for service in 2017. A call for service is anytime an officer responds to a request
for assistance or conducts a proactive measure. We took 1,288 reports, which include domestic violence, drug offenses, traffic accidents, sex offenses, weapons violations, and much more. We enforce city ordinances as well as state
statutes. We are a very busy office. Recently, we have had to put other calls off and set a
priority because of our recent call volume. We apologize if we have had to do this recently, but our call volume is more than normal
right now. We are staying active with calls and enforcement
activities and attempting to stay on top of them even while implementing our community partnership programs because we believe that these programs are important in reaching our community in hopes to slow down issues within our community.
I learned a great lesson the other day while playing with my almost three-year-old. He looks up to me, wants to be me, and says,
"I am Police Officer Logan." I looked at him and told my wife, I want all the kiddos of Chillicothe and surrounding areas to look up to police officers and want to be a police officer. We went on playing as if we were the police. It reminded me why
I became a police officer - it was to serve people. I love to serve this amazing community. So I took this back to my staff. I told them that if we get into the community now while the kiddos are young,
then we can assist in steering them in the right path. We have had an influx of serious or felony classified offenses committed by
juvenile offenders recently. We want to get out into the community to stop issues before they become issues.
Since I became Chief of Police of this great city, I have started attending a leadership class, FBI LEEDA
- Law Enforcement Executive Development course. This course is constructed of three, one-week-long classes I have attended over the past three
months - Supervisor Leadership, Command Leadership, and Executive Leadership. Through this,
I successfully graduated and completed FBI-LEEDA's courses and received the FBILEEDA Trilogy Award. This is a major success at this point in my career. This will assist me in better leading our Chillicothe Police Officers into a better tomorrow.
We have accomplished several tasks as a
department but also look to move forward to better serve you, the community. Something I do every day I come to work
is talk to the staff. I want to know how they are doing, what they need from me as their leader, and how their families are. At a recent training, a retired
commander from the Ohio State Patrol said that if you know yourself and your people,
then you will succeed in your leadership. I stand by this because I care about my staff, the future of our department, and our community. Lastly, I leave you with this. A retired Captain of the North Carolina State Patrol told me,
"Leadership is the ability to influence and develop
others."
My staff is doing amazing, and it makes me proud to be the leader of the Chillicothe Police Department.
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January
3, 2018 - I have been Chief for over a month now. First, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me in this journey to reach my goal as Police Chief of Chillicothe.
It's like I told the City of Chillicothe in the process, I did not just want to be a Chief of another city or another big town, I wanted to be the Chief of Chillicothe because
it's the greatest place on earth. Chillicothe is an amazing place and it is home, so thank you. I would also like to thank the people assisting me in this transitional process.
It's been a ride so far. The City Council, City Administration, City and County Department Heads, CPD staff, and the Community have been great to work with. They have all been great to work with during this transition. Also my family, wife, and kiddo have worked with me and been patient while I have worked many hours during this transition.
In my first month as Police Chief, we have hired two new Police
Officers, Marshall Meagher and Richard "Kyle" Fletcher. Officer Meagher is a 19- year veteran from Chariton County and Officer Fletcher is a cadet from Missouri Western Police Academy, who received overall best cadet of his academy recently. We also promoted Officer Smith to Detective Smith from a great pool of applicants. We have also brought on board a volunteer Chaplain, Kevin Smith, to assist
counseling and working with our officers in tough situations. If you have tried getting hold of me, well, I have been swamped and I apologize. I have been in many meetings and trainings so far. I have many goals as your Police Chief, but one is to take the Chillicothe Police Department to the next level and make it the greatest department around. One thing I have figured out is I have one of the best staffs around. We have a bright future here at the Chillicothe PD.
It's like I explain to so many people, so many times, I may be the Chief, but the people who make up this Department, they are the ones who make it the best Police Department around.
Since my appointment here as the Chief, I have instilled in my staff a borrowed ideology. The Fundamental Five, if you will.
1) Integrity. Without it, you're nothing. With it, WE are everything.
2) People first. Not everyone has to get a ticket or go to jail.
3) For the little ones, get down on their level. Connect with them. Let them know you are a person.
It's OK to be a cop, too. 4) Do... Your... Job. Above all, do it with pride, as if your life is reflective upon what you did today. Give all you have because all you have to do, is
give. 5) Go home at the end of your shift. Remember this, no matter what happens, the last thing you have to worry about is me, your Chief.
I've got your back, period. In closing, I want you to know, we will do our best in being part of our community. We love our community. You are always welcome to come to the Chillicothe Police Department and talk with any of us. Also I will being doing a monthly letter to keep you informed of what we are doing here at the police department.
Please email us at
contactus@chillimopd.org. Likewise, if you have a complaint or concern you wish to discuss with our department, we would also like to hear from you. We take pride in serving you!
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