For Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John, the past two-plus years has been both a learning experience and a lengthy process.
“Being a police chief is a process. It is not a job. It is a continuous process I can get one thing cleaned up, and something else comes up.” he said, at Wednesday”s meeting of the Columbus Kiwanis Club, which met at the Columbus Country Club.
Citizens of Columbus should feel fortunate to live in such a great town, St. John said, but it can not escape crime completely. Still he hopes to implement plans to curb crime in Columbus.
“We are going to manage crime; we are going to focus on major areas where crimes such as burglaries and robberies are occurring and work to manage them,” he said.
During the mid-2009, the city was hit with a lot of burglaries.
“These took place during the daytime, and we are going to work to have more officers in force during the daytime,” St. John said, noting K-9 units continue to make a contribution to crime-fighting efforts.
The police chief also wants to schedule a retreat with local government and business leaders to get their input on how the department can serve the community better.
“I also want to work with other agencies to get their input. We want to have input from the citizens,” he said.
St. John wants to set goals and plans in place for his department to implement, move he knows is not going to be achieved overnight.
“We want to have measurable goals for our department”s goals we hope to accomplish within two or three years,” he said. “By that time, we should have an idea of where we are going and how to make it better.”
Allen Baswell was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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