Hopkinsville City Council will vote April 4 on Mayor James R. Knight Jr.’s recommendation to hire Christian County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jason Newby as the city’s next police chief. The mayor announced his choice in a press release Friday.
Newby would follow Clayton Sumner — who is retiring in August — as the city’s top law enforcement officer, earning a base salary of $105,546. The police department has 114 employees, which includes 79 sworn officers, 13 support staff and 22 emergency communication workers. The department’s annual budget is $9.3 million.
In the release, Knight said Newby would bring “new vision to the department and how we police our city.”
Newby showed “confidence, enthusiasm and respect for his hometown and for law enforcement in general,” the mayor described.
“His charge is to build upon the great foundation of our police department and lead it to new levels of retention, recruitment, readiness and community engagement,” he said.
Newby listed the following department priorities in the next five years if he is named police chief:
- A fully staffed department.
- Continuous patrols on the greenway [rail-trail] and additional call boxes and cameras.
- A mission-oriented unit to combat gun violence.
- A mission-oriented unit to combat drug trafficking.
- Have all officers trained in crisis intervention and mediation.
- Work with the emergency management director to improve existing radio issues.
- A fully staff Emergency Call Center.
- Twice-a-year ward meetings with residents, council members and the mayor.
- Re-establish Neighborhood Watch Programs.
- Create a homelessness outreach program to reduce the homeless population.
“Being chief is truly a great opportunity for me to continue serving my community as I have for the last 29 years. The Hopkinsville Police Department and its fine officers have a great foundation that I am looking forward to building upon,” Newby said in the release.
A committee that reviewed applications and conducted interviews included the mayor, council members Amy Craig and Matthew Handy, City Administrative Officer Troy Body, Human Resources Officer Kenneth Grabara, Sheriff Tyler DeArmond and the Rev. Buddy Slaughter, who serves as chaplain for the police department.
The pool of 29 applicants was racially diverse. One disappointment was the lack of any female applicants, said Body.
Newby was the “overwhelming” recommendation of the committee and other city department heads to the mayor. He emerged as one of two finalists; the other finalist was Timothy Clothier, who previously was police chief for two cities in Missouri.
If city council approves Newby’s selection, he would step into the chief’s role almost immediately. Sumner would remain with the department to help in the transition until his retirement this summer, said Body.
Newby is a former HPD patrolman and served as a Kentucky State Police squad sergeant and lieutenant. He has also served on the Christian County Board of Elections. He is a member of New Work Fellowship, a Hopkinsville church.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
