New Gastonia Police chief striving for progress

Gastonia's new police chief Trent Conard wants the Gastonia Police Department to be the best around.

To get there, he wants to focus on diversifying the police force, building trust with the community, and fine tuning other aspects of the department, where he has worked since 1996.

A year from now, he hopes the department will be more progressive.

"Progressive in every area, as far as technology, as far as staffing, as far as our community outreach, being able to reach more people — that type of progressive," he said.

"I don't really have a crystal ball, but our goal would be to make all of our services better for our community, to make sure that our officers continue to get the training that they need to effectively support and answer calls for service for our community," he added.

Conard is originally from Gastonia. He graduated from South Point High School in 1989, and when he was around 23, he was recruited by David Young, then the chief of the Cramerton Police Department, to start working in law enforcement. A graduate of Montreat College, Conard made national news in 2020 when, according to television station WFLA, he saved the life of a young girl that choked on her food in a Gastonia Olive Garden.

When asked about his career, Conard said he likes "just the ability to work with the community and to help people."

"Making a difference over and over again through my career, that's been the most rewarding to me," he said.

The Gastonia Police Department faces the same sort of challenges that other law enforcement agencies across the country do, Conard said.

The department currently has 19 vacancies out of 177 sworn officer positions, and it has not been fully staffed since at least 2019, Conard said.

Law enforcement nationwide has faced criticism for years, and high profile cases — such as the recent killing of Tyrene Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, in which five officers have been charged with murder — have eroded public trust in law enforcement in many places.

"For Memphis, my heart goes out to the family for sure," Conard said. "But that's where accountability comes in. We're all held accountable."

In Gastonia, Conard said, he feels the police have a strong relationship with the community, and the department is more diverse than it's ever been. In 2016, the department had 142 white officers and 11 African American officers. They now have 129 white officers, and 17 African American officers. Similarly, the department had five Latinx officers in 2016. There are now nine.

The department has also added 12 women. In 2016 there were 10 female police officers, and now there are 22.

"Diversity, equity, and inclusion is definitely a big goal and initiative for the city, as far as our education is involved in that, and it's definitely important to our community. To build community trust, we need to better reflect our community," he said. "Anything we can do to be better, it's on the table."

Conard, who will be the city's 25th chief of police, has been serving as the interim police chief since October 2022. He replaces Travis Brittain who retired Jan. 1 after serving as chief since Oct. 1, 2020. Conard was hired at a salary of $165,000 a year. He oversees a department budget of $23,995,948.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: New Gastonia Police chief striving for progress