Last week I took over as Captain of the South District after the recent retirement of Captain Joe Balles. Captain Balles left behind some big shoes to fill, but I am eager to take on the challenge of leading a district filled with such talented officers. I am attending my first two neighborhood meetings this week (Greenbush and Monona Bay) and look forward to meeting more of you in the days ahead. I've been with the Madison Police Department since 1998 and I was previously the Lieutenant in our Investigative Services Section and in the West District prior to that.
One of my key goals this year is to increase informal interactions and improve communication between the public and the Department. We'll continue to utilize a variety of means to reach out to the community and I hope that citizens will contact us with concerns, questions and feedback. Starting in 2016, we will have liaison officers assigned to every neighborhood association and school in the district. This liaison program will be in addition to our existing Community Policing Team, three full-time Neighborhood Officers and one Neighborhood Resource Officer. The new liaison assignments will be shared in the coming weeks.
I'll use this blog throughout the year to keep you updated on district issues, notable incidents or events and to share crime prevention tips. I will also include a number of introductions of other personnel from the district.
Finally, thanks to everyone who completed the 2015 MPD South District Community Survey. This annual survey really helps us gauge how we are doing and understand what issues are most important to you. We had more than 300 responses and a summary of the results can be viewed here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-LP6MT7KQ/
I look forward to working with you all!