Lynchburg taps new police chief

Lynchburg’s new police chief was announced Friday morning as Parks Snead, a veteran of the local police force and its acting chief for the past six months.

Snead, who has 24 years experience with the Lynchburg Police Department, was chosen from a field of 57 applicants.

He described himself as awestruck by his new appointment, and promised to live up to the confidence being placed in him.

“I certainly want to thank the city manager, my co-workers and my family for their support and for their expressions of faith in my ability to be an effective chief of police,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to demonstrate that their faith and trust were not misplaced.”

Letters, phone calls, and online communications expressing support for Snead were received throughout the lengthy recruitment process that began earlier this year, according to City Manager Kimball Payne, who made the final hiring decision.

“There’s been a lot of community support for him,” Payne said following a brief ceremony at City Hall that included presenting Snead with a new badge engraved with the designation “Chief.”

For his part, the city manager commended Snead for his past performance in the department, which included working his way up to the job of deputy chief in 2005, and for the initiative he’s shown as its interim leader.

“Parks Snead has the right combination of experience, dedication and integrity that is essential for this position,” Payne said. “… He has my full support, and I am confident of his success.”

Former chief Charles Bennett, who retired last March and now works overseas in Pakistan, sent out an e-mail Friday morning praising his new successor.

“Chief Snead is a man of character and a proven leader,” Bennett wrote from Islamabad, where he serves as a U.S. law enforcement adviser. “He is a dedicated law enforcement officer but also compassionate to those he is sworn to protect. I heartily congratulate Chief Snead on his outstanding career and on his appointment as Chief of Police.”

Snead, 48, said he was offered the job a week before Friday’s announcement. Payne said Snead was the only member of the LPD to apply.

His starting salary will be around $110,000.

The hiring process included public surveys, meetings with community leaders, and interviews conducted by Payne and a small panel of high-level city administrators.

The formal announcement Friday was attended by several representatives of the city’s public safety agencies, current and past members of City Council, and officials with the local courts.

Fire Chief Brad Ferguson, who has known Snead since his early days with the Lynchburg police, described the new chief as a dedicated officer who brought a “hometown” perspective to the job.

“He’s lived here all his life and I think he has the best interests of the community, which is what we need,” Ferguson said. “I think he’ll do a great job.”

Mayor Joan Foster said she thought it was a great choice.

“I think the best man for the job got the job,” she said. “He knows our community, and I’ve been impressed with his desire to cooperate with the

community.”

Foster specifically mentioned Snead’s participation in the recent Community Dialogue on Race and Racism, as well as the ongoing anti-violence “Love Walk” campaign organized by area churches.

“That’s what we were hearing from our citizens,” she said. “They want to feel like they know our police officers, that they know the people on the beat. And now here’s our chief, walking door to door to talk with people. I think that’s what our community wants.”

The original recruitment profile assembled during the chief search identified several challenges facing the local department, all of which were reinforced during the announcement ceremony.

Specific issues included improving officer retention, leading an increasingly younger police force, strengthening community policing initiatives, and improving race relations between the department and the public.

Snead, in his own comments, highlighted the need to bolster community policing, a philosophy that calls for police officers and community members to work cooperatively to keep the city safe.

“This is a time when all of us are looking toward the future,” Snead said. “And I’ll tell you today that I intend that future generations will look back on this era as a time when the police and all our community partners came together to address our problems and to share in our

successes … .”