Superior’s Top Cop Talks 2016 Goals, Challenges

Superior Police Chief Nick Alexander is reflecting on this first full year at the city’s top cop, while looking ahead at the challenges for 2016.

He describes 2015 as a year of transition.

“There’s learning opportunities daily. And I’d like to think I’ve made some good decisions and done good things in the first year and I’ve learned along the way that I would probably do differently,” Alexander told FOX 21’s Dan Hanger.

Alexander believes his push on social media and community focused events have greatly helped strengthen the public’s perception and trust of his officers.

“The Superior Police Department is sworn to protect, committed to justice and dedicated to professional service. And I want the community members to know that and I want our department members to know,” Alexander explained.

Coming up in 2016, Alexander will be focusing even more on better relations between different cultures and ethnic backgrounds with the launch of a new ethical policing program at UWS, which Alexander is helping to design.

“Recognizing the differences between cultures, how that can create conflict sometimes between police and public interaction. And recognizing that as the first step to improving,” Alexander said.

Meanwhile, a trial phase of police body cameras will evolve into a full-time basis sometime in 2016 to help with accountability and trust.

“It may bring some members of the community to have a little more trust or confidence in the police knowing that public and police interactions are — for the most part — being recorded,” Alexander said.

And for the first time in Alexander’s nearly 18 years on the Superior police force, a city wide survey will be going out to residents to get direct input on policing and issues within neighborhoods.

“We as an organization may have one idea of what’s important to the community in terms of law enforcement services. But until we hear from the citizenry, there may be input that’s received that will cause us to reflect on that,” Alexander said.

It’s a mission of community policing – proactive policing – that Alexander is determined to grow while battling a rise in police calls involving heroin, meth and mental illness.

“We saw an increase in weapons associated with narcotics activity in 2015 up nearly 30 percent from 2014 — and that’s obviously a concern both for the safety of community members and officer safety,” Alexander said.

The police department recently got linked with a new crime-mapping tool.  Click on the link and search for your neighborhood: https://www.raidsonline.com/