Community visibility: New chief wants input from residents

Dec. 18—Joplin's new police chief said he will be visible in the community and wants community input into crime problems and neighborhood needs.

Chief Richard Pearson began his first day on the job in a City Hall ceremony Monday morning in which he took the oath of office and then spoke with an audience composed of residents, police officers and other city employees.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Pearson and his wife, Gina, moved to Joplin last week along with their two "fat and nasty, stinky basset hounds," Pearson said during his introduction.

City Manager Nick Edwards introduced Pearson and spoke about the qualifications the newly hired police leader will bring to the job.

"It was easy to see during Chief Pearson's interview that he had the knowledge and experience to lead in Joplin," Edwards said. "That knowledge and experience is critical because, as a community, we are in the midst of challenging but exciting times.

"There are many issues confronting our police department. Our community is growing now more than ever and we will need to continue to attract and retain our great officers. We must continue to improve pay and staffing, and make improvements in our facilities to continue a positive trajectory for Joplin."

He asked for community support of the new chief to create a safer Joplin.

Pearson said he does not plan to sit in his office to do his work here. He said he will be a hands-on type of chief who will be leading the department's officers from the front. He said he will be visible in the community and encourages residents to speak to him if they see him at the grocery store or a park or at community functions.

"I believe the department should not be separate from the community," he said. "We are all one."

He asked that residents feel free to speak with him and to any officer with the department.

"When people lose communication with the department, they lose faith in the department," he said.

Asked by the Globe what he will do first to assess the department and the community, Pearson said, "First I will do a statistic review to see where we are crimewise and what we can do to best focus our resources," Pearson said. "It's been my experience that if there's a thousand crimes that go on in the city in a year, you don't have a thousand criminals. You probably have 10 or 15 criminals committing a series of crimes. We want to see who those folks are and see what we can do to best address their needs and keep them from being criminals."

The new chief said the department will work closely the department's officers. "What I mean when I say closely is that I mean face-to-face. I will be attending roll calls and sitting one-on-one with officers asking them, 'What are you seeing on your beat? What are you seeing in that area? What needs to be done to make the city better? To make the neighborhood better?'"

Pearson told the Globe he will write those things down to address them.

He also expects the officers to hold him accountable for that, Pearson said. "If I tell them I will do something and I don't do it, I expect one of them to come to me and say, 'Chief, you said you were going to do X and Y, and you haven't done it yet,'" he said. "I believe that's going to help us a lot because the beat officers are the ones with boots on the ground."

Pearson, 52, said he was drawn to law enforcement at a young age. At 15, he became a police cadet and went to work at age 21 at the Louisville Police Department, which is much larger than Joplin's force of 113 positions authorized for sworn personnel and 53 civilian compared with Louisville's ranks of 1,250. He retired from the department 22 years later as a lieutenant.

He has served in a number of capacities in previous law enforcement employment, including administrative, technical, patrol and plain clothes.

"I am proud of the work I did along with my co-workers in Louisville," Pearson said. He then went on to teach law enforcement and also served on a school district police department.

Pearson was one of four finalists who were interviewed for the job in August. A veteran of the Joplin Police Department, Brian Lewis, served as interim chief after the June 1 retirement of former Chief Sloan Rowland. He also was one of the four candidates.

Both Edwards and Pearson praised the work of Lewis in bridging the department through the transition. Pearson said Lewis "has done a fantastic job leading the department." Lewis will serve as assistant chief moving forward, the city manager said.

Pearson said he and his wife, in the little time they have been here, like the area, he said.

"We have met with nothing but the finest, most gracious citizens," he said. "We have had many, many people come up to us and introduce themselves and welcome us to the community. It's been very warm and welcoming, and we appreciate it very much."

He holds a master's and bachelor's degree justice administration from the University of Louisville. He graduated from the FBI's National Police Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and the Southern Police Institute in Louisville. He recently received his doctorate in criminal justice at Saint Leo University in St. Leo, Florida.

After serving with the Louisville Police Department for 22 years, he was an assistant professor of criminal justice at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg, Indiana. He then took a job as captain of the Jefferson County, Kentucky, School System Police Department.