GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Green Bay has a new Police Chief. Officer Chris Davis from Portland, Oregon will join the force in early September. He's making his way to Wisconsin to be closer to family. After 27 years, he knows his stuff.
"I've been fortunate enough as I have worked in the Police Bureau to work in a bunch of different areas and learned a lot of the different facets of a police department," Ofc. Davis said.
One word that came up a lot when talking to Ofc. Davis is community. He loves meeting people, and making wherever he is feel like a safer environment.
"That's what appealed to me about this work all along is just being able to go out," Ofc. Davis said. "I love people. That community and police relationship, that we have to have, because you know, you will hear me say this a lot, that public safety is a shared responsibility. And it's something that we produce together."
When the announcement was made by the Green Bay Police and Fire commission, Facebook flooded with comments. There were opinions on both sides, like, quote, "So where's the autonomous zone being set up?" Ofc. Davis says Green Bay's condition are much better than Portland, and that appealed to him. He said it's a great place for a collaborative relationship between police and community.
"Portland and Green Bay are two completely different places," Davis said. "You know, I am always going to be happy to sit down with anyone and just talk about it, who wants to and talk about my own perspective of having lived through that."
President of the Police and Fire Commission Rod Goldhahn said he suggests people remember they did not hire Portland, they hired Chris Davis.
“We looked at the totality of his work and placing in his 27 year career and through that time he’s been able to work in almost every aspect of the police service,” Goldhahn said.
Ofc. Davis also said he wants to bring new policies and strategies to combat gun violence in Green Bay. He said it's not only a nationwide epidemic, but one in Wisconsin as well. He said it takes three things to decrease gun violence: prevention, intervention and interrogation. He wants to improve upon these methods, that he stresses are already very much in place within the Green Bay police force.
- Portland Police Deputy Chief selected to become Green Bay's next Chief
- Green Bay community members discuss what they want to see in the city's next police chief
While some people were upset about the new Chief coming from Portland, some were also upset that he, as someone from out of state, got the job over other candidates who've worked in the area. One Green Bay resident Christopher Zahn attended the many listening sessions for the new chief and said he believes the commission may have failed this time.
"It takes time to establish an understanding of the community but most importantly, the trust of this community," Zahn said. "As a person with lived experience, we were given a voice with the police department. Will we still be afforded a voice at the table? The only answer is time will tell. My hope is the new Chief will continue with the great policies that are in place now."
Davis said without a doubt he has the utmost respect for the candidates and is looking forward to working with them.
"When you're coming in from the outside, In a job like this, the analogy I use is you're merging onto a very busy freeway," Davis said. "So it's important for me when I get there to spend a lot of time learning and a lot of time listening. I'm committed to getting this right and i don't see the need to come in and make a lot of sweeping changes right away."
