Just a couple weeks after being sworn in as Columbus police chief, Mike Richardson has started outlining some of his priorities for the department — and getting used to being behind a desk instead of on patrol in the city.
“I never saw myself sitting in an office, to be honest with you,” said Richardson, a Bartholomew County native who was hired by the Columbus Police Department in November 1994.
Richardson said he joined the force following in the footsteps of his father, who was a Indiana State Police trooper who “worked his whole career basically on the street and that is what I wanted to do as well.”
“That’s part of the reason I got into law enforcement because I didn’t want to sit in an office,” he said.
Richardson, who was sworn in Jan. 1, said some of his priorities as Columbus’ new police chief include recruiting and retaining officers and continuing to tackle drug-related issues and property crime with the city’s successful Intelligence-Led Policing Unit and as a part of the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET).
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, or JNET, is a task force combines narcotics officers from the Columbus Police Department and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office focusing on investigation and prosecution of narcotics cases.
“I see my job as more of getting the officers the equipment, the training, the resources that they need,” he said. “That’s my responsibility. They’re the ones out doing the job. They’re the ones out there on the streets.”
For the full story, see Thursday’s Republic.
