Wichita’s new police chief Gordon Ramsay started this week, and he says he initially plans on spending much of his time listening to the community.
Ramsay says some of his top priorities as chief of the Wichita Police Department will be recruiting new officers, developing relationships in the community and gathering analytics to map out areas of concern.
Ramsay comes to Wichita from Duluth, Minnesota, where he served as police chief for nearly a decade. He says he is going to press the Department of Justice to release funds needed to equip all WPD officers with body cameras. The city missed its goal of implementing the body-worn cameras last year and is waiting on $250,000 in matching federal funds to purchase equipment.
The question of releasing video captured on these cameras remains unclear.
“That’s the issue everyone’s grappling with," he says. "There are so many variables with body cameras. You capture people at their absolute worst times in their lives. That's on video. Really, who should have access to that? Really I believe these decisions should be made by elected officials.”
Also starting work this week is John Hall, the city's new director of Housing and Community Services. He will oversee housing and social services.
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