[Vision2020] Moscow police chief retiring in June

[Moscow Cares]

On behalf of an appreciative community, a community of which you became so very familiar . . .

Thank you, Chief.

Courtesy of today's (January 14, 2016) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Moscow police chief retiring in June
Duke described by city officials as professional, highly community minders 

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/MPD/MPD_Chief_Duke.jpg
Moscow Police Chief David Duke has officially announced he will retire in June.
Duke, 60, was promoted to chief in January 2011 after serving as assistant chief starting in 2005. He came to the department in 1999 as a captain.
"I've fulfilled my five-year commitment as chief," Duke said. "That was a benchmark."
Duke came to Moscow from the Oklahoma City Police Department, where he had worked for 23 years and saw the effect of domestic terrorism as a first-responder to the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing.
He and his wife, Jean, felt that in Moscow they had found a place with both a small-town atmosphere and higher education opportunities for their then-teenage children, the Daily News reported in 1999.
"We're looking into finding a house back South as my father ages so we can give him quality-of-life assistance," he said.
His father, who lives near the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., is 89 and a World War II veteran
After a stint in the Army that included two years as a military police officer, Duke attended the University of Central Oklahoma and earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in criminal justice management. He's also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command.
He's also an ordained minister.
In a written statement, city officials praised Duke's efforts to be proactive in dealing with public safety issues and to enhance the city's community policing efforts.
Mayor Bill Lambert described Duke as "the consummate law enforcement professional. His guidance and leadership in dealing with everything from tragedies to the annual safety fair has been an asset to our town."
Duke said he was glad to get the city's Citizens Police Academy started, attaining departmental accreditation by the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association and approaching national accreditation within the next few months.
Accreditation is important because it shows the community the department is holding itself to internationally accepted standards, he said.
Beefing up the department's staffing after positions were eliminated because of the recession and a contract change with the University of Idaho was another important accomplishment, he said.
One officer position was restored by eliminating an administrative position and adding those duties to the chief and another administrator.
Grant money allowed the department to bring back a traffic and school resource officer.
"Both of those officer positions are very important to community policing," he said.
By early February, he said, a final department job opening will be closed. A group of new officers will be aboard after several positions needed filling because of people leaving or retiring.
Officers were moved to 12-hour shift schedules to provide better coverage of the city with the positions unfilled.
Strategic planning efforts should provide his replacement "with a roadmap" for things needed in the next five years.
That would include moving to a new station "within three to five years," Duke said. "Hopefully."
There are still "lots of projects I need to work on," he said. "I want to accomplish those before I head out the door."
The city announced there will be a national search for the next police chief, and there will be opportunities for the public to meet candidates.

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Seeya 'round town, Chief, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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