{"id":94809,"date":"2019-04-05T18:54:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T00:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/police-chief-candidates-mingle-with-residents-field-questions\/"},"modified":"2019-04-05T18:54:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T00:54:40","slug":"police-chief-candidates-mingle-with-residents-field-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/police-chief-candidates-mingle-with-residents-field-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Police chief candidates mingle with residents, field questions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The city of Durango has chosen three men, two of whom are locals, as candidates for chief of police.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

All three men vying to be Durango\u2019s next police chief identified community policing as an important tactic for making a city safer.<\/p>\n

About 50 people \u2013 including city councilors, community members and the mayor\u2019s youth advisory commission \u2013 mingled at the Durango Community Recreation Center with interim Durango Police Chief Bob Brammer, Colorado State Patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll and Casa Grande, Arizona, Deputy Police Chief Reginald Winston \u2013 all of whom have been selected by City Manager Ron LeBlanc as potential leaders of the city\u2019s police department.<\/p>\n

Former Durango Police Chief Kamran Afzal left the department in December<\/a> to be closer to his family on the East Coast. Brammer, who\u2019s been with the department for 18 years, was chosen to lead the department in the interim.<\/p>\n

\"Brammer\"
Brammer<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brammer said he applied for the position because he wants to make a difference. In the time he\u2019s spent with the department, Brammer said he has seen a lot of change. And as the city developed, Brammer said he \u201ctailored\u201d his professional development to the needs of the community.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot facing the Durango Police Department, both internal and external, Brammer said. Internally, \u201cretention and turnover is one of the biggest issues,\u201d he said. It\u2019s hard for the department to compete financially with Front Range agencies, and the best way to keep officers in Durango is to provide them with the support they need, Brammer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be at the top, but my job is to support the officer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Driscoll\"
Driscoll<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Winston said he applied for the job because the expectations and challenges of the community are a good fit with his skill set. Homelessness may be the most pressing issue facing the Durango Police Department, he said, and the best way to address the problem is to collaborate with the community.<\/p>\n

Proactive policing is the most effective approach to enforce the law in a community, Winston said. That means being out in the community and communicating with residents and business owners about how to make Durango safer. And on his first trip to Durango, he\u2019s made a point to talk with people around town, Winston said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last six hours have made a lasting impression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Winston\"
Winston<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Driscoll said he applied for the job because he sees it as an opportunity to better engage with the community. One of the most pressing issues in Durango is violent crime, Driscoll said. He wants to make the community safer.<\/p>\n

Getting out into the community is the most effective way to reduce violent crime, Driscoll said. The department needs to host listening sessions with community members to understand what are the most pressing issues to community members and how law enforcement can address problems before they become violent, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo really control crime rates \u2013 if you engage the community, you get a jump start,\u201d Driscoll said.<\/p>\n

The candidates will undergo an assessment with 22 community members Friday. After that, LeBlanc will evaluate comments and make a decision within a few weeks.<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

applicants say engagement with community is key to good policing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1065,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-94809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-durango-police-department","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94809"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=94809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}