New Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay sees ‘tremendous opportunities’ to build on

Using words such as “excited” and “honored,” Gordon Ramsay on Friday sounded like a man eager to get started as Wichita’s next police chief.

“There are tremendous opportunities here, a lot of opportunities to continue to build off the wonderful success of the Wichita Police Department,” Ramsay said after being introduced at a City Hall media conference by Mayor Jeff Longwell.

The largest city in Kansas has been without a police chief for more than 15 months. Ramsay succeeds Norman Williams, who retired in September 2014.

Nelson Mosley served as interim chief until he retired last week.

Ramsay, who will earn $170,000 a year, will manage a department with 836 employees and a budget of nearly $82 million. He arrives in Wichita from Duluth, Minn., where he spent 22 years as a police officer and the last nine years as the port city’s police chief.

Ramsay, the 46th police chief in the city’s history, said he plans to do “a lot of listening” over the next 30 to 60 days, meeting with people both inside the department and out in the community, “and really focus on building a strategic plan for the future.”

A big proponent of both community policing and the use of body cameras, Ramsay said his to-do list for Friday includes a call to the Department of Justice to try to expedite the release of funds earmarked to pay for more than 200 body cameras for Wichita police officers.

The department’s goal of having every officer outfitted with a body camera by the end of 2015 fell short because of a delay in federal dollars being used to help pay for them.

Duluth was one of the first mid-size cities to outfit officers with body cameras, he said, and initial reluctance on the part of some officers soon gave way to overwhelming endorsement.

While Wichita police officials have crafted a policy outlining when body camera video footage will be released to the public, Ramsay said he prefers to have elected officials set that criteria.

“You capture people at their absolute worst times in their lives,” he said. “Who should have access to that?

“You’re inside people’s homes. Who should have access to that?”

Ramsay plans to go out on police calls and go to community and youth centers to introduce himself.

“Community relations is critical across the country, and Wichita’s no different,” he said.

Officers, he said, need to strike an effective balance between enforcement and building relationships.

“To be successful, there have to be positive interactions” and not just enforcement, he said.

Reviewing current trends and best practices to strengthen the department will be a constant, Ramsay said. Among his priorities will be the use of crime analysis to better pinpoint where crimes are occurring.

Responding to those trends allows the department to be “more effective and efficient,” he said.

Law enforcement agencies around Kansas have reported difficulties in recruiting, but Ramsay said he isn’t shying away from the challenge.

“Recruiting is something I enjoy,” he said, pointing out that he had success in Minnesota.

There are 13 open police officer positions, in addition to the 24 cadets currently undergoing training at the academy, said Capt. Brent Allred, who oversees the department’s training bureau.

Ramsay noted that Wichita has three colleges that offer majors in criminal justice, saying he will make it “a priority” to get “the best, brightest and best-educated” in the door of the police academy.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 12:32 PM with the headline "New Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay sees ‘tremendous opportunities’ to build on."