For Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates, a change in the structure of his department was just one part of building for the future during 2021.
For Chief Yates, seeing Josh Webb and Terry McCord sworn in as Deputy Chiefs of Police this past fall was just one part of a long range plan.
AUDIO: Years ago when we had deputy directors, that added conduct between the executive office and the operational divisions. And it’s very important that we always maintain a hierarchy to where everybody has somebody that we need to answer to. It just really helps with the unity of command, as well as the chain of command and communication.
Another big part of Chief Yates’ plans starting off 2022 is a new initiative on battling domestic violence. There is a checklist to follow, with a proper command of whom to report to. If a case is ready for charges to be filed, it will go straight to the Vermilion County State’s Attorney’s Office. But if more investigative work needs to be done first, a department detective will take the lead on the case.
AUDIO: We’re pretty much just building a team concept that wherever there is an incident we can pull all of our resources together and mitigate the problem the best we can. We want to make sure and let the victims know that there is a way out, and there is a way that they can have a support system that’s going to be there for them whenever they need it. And also, to let them know that they’re behind the wheel. They can help themselves with the resources that are available. Sometime that can be very intimidating, and there’s a lot of anxiety around that. And we want to make sure they understand that there’s help when they need it.
And with the announcement late in the year that Danville’s Police Department was chosen for a $750,000 COPS grant, that’s Community Oriented Policing Service, from the U.S. Department of Justice, part of that was allocated to the hiring of a specific Domestic Violence Officer.
