It has been approximately one month since a change in leadership at the Cherokee Village Police Department. The promotion of Sergeant Monte Lane to the position of Chief of Police followed the retirement of former Chief Rick Crook.
Lane has served the City of Cherokee for 20 years in a law enforcement capacity, ten as a night patrolman and ten as a sergeant.
“I got my start here except for working for two years at the Sharp County Sheriff’s Department as a jailer and dispatcher in 1992,” Lane said.
When asked what changes he might make to the department, Lane said his first priority was to get the department fully staffed.
Through his promotion to chief, the promotion of Bryan Buchanan to Sergeant, the career change of one officer and the retirement of another, Lane said staffing was imperative.
“The first thing I want to do is to get back to a full working crew. I have hired two new officers, Anthony Wiles (a former police chief) and Richard Crow,” Lane said.
Additionally, Lane said he would like to see the department’s reserve program bolstered.
“When I started here many years ago as a reserve police officer, we had an excellent reserve program. It was a fight on the weekends to see who could get here first to get the one spare car. If you didn’t make it to get the first, you had to check with an on-duty officer to see if they had a seat or if they were already full and if so, you were just out of luck,” Lane said.
He said he would like to see the reserve program return to its former status. In doing so, it would not only allow for extra police protection to the residents of Cherokee Village and those visiting the area but would also help full-time officers.
“I’ll use July 4th for an example. At one time, the reserve program was so good, the full-time officers and the option and opportunity to patrol more and respond to calls more quickly. It was because the reserve officers would work the event, park the cars and take care of anything going on in their area,” Lane said.
Other changes to the department include scheduling increasing police presence with overlap during certain times throughout the week.
“I have made some scheduling changes and also there are some equipment upgrades I’d like to make to keep our department equipped with the most updated equipment we can have,” Lane said. “We’re looking at trying to place an order now for two new vehicles. The reason we’d like to do it now is that Ford is having problems getting parts and so if we order ahead when we need them, they will be ready. This would be for next year.”
Lane said he intends to keep an open-door policy and to focus on community policing.
“I want everyone to know I’m going to do my job to the best of my ability to make Cherokee Village a safe place to live, work, vacation and play. My strategy is not changing as far as being proactive rather than reactive. More patrols, more coverage and overlapping coverage, are part of that. Proactive more than reactive,” Lane said.
With the influx of new residents to the area, Lane said he hopes to be allowed the opportunity to show new residents what community policing can really look like.
“We are human too. We just expect to be treated fairly and equally. Give us a chance to show we are human and we like to treat people like the human beings they are. An encounter with law enforcement does not have to be a bad thing,” Lane said.
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
