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Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook recently sat down for an extended question-and-answer session with The Herald-Dispatch. The Nov. 25 interview covered many topics, and this installment of the interview will include his answers to questions about police staffing issues and the incoming mayoral administration, along with technology improvements and Holbrook's advice for the incoming Legislature.

Holbrook requested the question-and-answer session in an attempt to better inform the public. He said no question was off limits. Excerpts from the conversation are below.

QUESTION: The Police Department currently has 94 officers, up six from last year. What is your desired size for the department?

ANSWER: Minimum of 106 officers.

Q: What is the timeline for placing more officers on the streets?

A: We have four officers in the (West Virginia State Police) Academy now who will be finishing up soon. They will have to complete field training, so by early spring they will be stand-alone officers. That will have a tremendous impact.

I have every intention of asking for more officers in the 2009-10 budget and presenting our plan for what those officers are.

Q: Having the four additional, stand-alone officers will help your department field its Special Emphasis Unit. What will that unit do for the city?

A: Another way of looking at it will be a street crimes unit.

We are typically in a reactionary mode right now. We want to be more proactive.

If you experience a number of break-ins in the Westmoreland area, right now other than increasing patrols and people being more diligent in their observations, we have no real tool to counter that. With a street crimes unit, you can detail officers to a certain hot spot until they can make an apprehension.

They can be problem-solving-oriented about policing. They can work with the community to identify problems whether it is property crimes, drug dealing or alcohol consumption -- whatever it may be.

Q: A federal Justice Department grant is providing money to upgrade emergency technology within the county. Your department is using private funds to further that technology, such as assigning a laptop to each officer. What impact will this have?

A: When I started my police career, there were mobile data terminals in cars. That was almost 22 years ago. I got here, and they had never had anything like that.

It's going to allow our officers to have better information, more detailed information; they're going to be able to communicate more efficiently, less radio traffic, more covertly. They are going to be more prepared when they arrive at calls.

It's just going to make us so much more efficient. It's going to give our supervisors the opportunity to manage their people better.

It's going to bring us up to modern-day policemen.

Q: You say you want your department to provide better service. What does that look like?

A: No. 1, when you call the police you want a policeman to come in a timely manner, communicate well with you and help you get to the bottom of the problem. Right now, because of our staffing level and our volume of calls, which is extremely high, we have to prioritize calls. That brings a human element into it.

With that current system, you're always going to have a dissatisfied customer and that's not acceptable. It's the reality, and I understand that. I'm not faulting any of my staff, but we've got to be able to provide better service.

We're getting ready to implement a self-reporting system. I think that is going to have a tremendous impact on our level of service.

Nobody is shucking their job. I really stress accountability with our supervision and accountability of our actions with our officers. Part of that accountability process is making sure we know where all of our officers are and making sure they are doing their jobs.

Generally speaking, we do (need more officers), but that can't be the crutch that we lean on all the time. There are some things you can just do better.

Q: What is your department's biggest need?

A: No. 1 would be people. No. 2 would be a fleet that supports people. We have an aging fleet. Vehicles are not a luxury. They are a perishable item, and they are critical to us being able to deliver our service.

We run our line vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's tough on a vehicle.

We've got to be able to replenish our fleet every year. It can't be every few years.

We've got guys driving vehicles that have 180,000 miles. You could argue strongly if they are really road safe or not.

Q: How do you view the city's new mayoral administration?

A: I don't know if anything is an obstacle. The big elephant in the room for everyone, to include Mayor (David) Felinton's administration and Mayor-elect (Kim) Wolfe's administration, is having the money to pay for the services. That is really what limits us.

I wouldn't be sitting here if (Felinton) doesn't hire me. He had enough confidence in me to hire me, and I'll forever be indebted to him for doing that. He was very supportive of me. He never, ever questioned any decision I made. He never did anything to undermine my command. I think that is all you can ask.

I would expect the same from Mayor-elect Wolfe.

I think (Wolfe) is going to be wearing a different hat as mayor. I think he will have to look at everything from the standpoint of what's best for the city.

Any department head is always going to ask for everything they think is necessary for them to run their department. Just like I have to make hard decisions within the department on how we're going to spend money, he's going to have to do that citywide. I'm not naive enough to think I may want seven cruisers, and he may have to buy several pieces of equipment for public works.

I can expect from him someone who is very up-front and honest about his decision making. I know he brings a lot of integrity, and he will do what is right. You really can't ask for any more.

Q: What can the state Legislature do to aid law enforcement in this town?

A: I think (legislators) have to look at some of the sentencing structure and penalties for some of our drug-related crimes. A lot of it comes down to funding, too.

(The Prosecutor's Office) has got to have the funding and resources to prosecute, and a lot of that is directly impacted by the state.

Probably one of the biggest things that is attainable is utilizing the forensics lab at Marshall University for drug analysis. As long as a case isn't analyzed, it's not going to proceed in court. We've got backlogs (of cases) upwards of two years.

Q: Your department was involved in three vehicle accidents within a week in late October and early November. Officers said it was mostly coincidence and a string of bad luck. Were there any lessons learned?

A: Each accident is investigated. It goes before a review panel. If it is determined we are at fault, then disciplinary action occurs.

At least two of them, we were not at fault, and one of them is still under investigation to see if there were any aggravating circumstances on our end that maybe, possibly contributed to the accident.

It's the hazards of being on the road. We encourage our people to be very attentive to their surroundings, but it's going to happen when you're on the road every day, 24 hours a day.

Q: The Police Department participated in an effort to tackle homelessness issues early in your administration. Part of the effort focused on encampments along the Ohio River. How do you view the current situation?

A: I'm never satisfied with anything, but a lot of people who complain about things have never really been to any other places than Huntington. Generally speaking, our homeless situation is minimal compared to what has been experienced in some of the larger cities.

We are strategizing with the business leaders in town, the people running the (Huntington City) Mission or the (Cabell-Huntington) Coalition for the Homeless. We all have to work together to mitigate the problem.

We haven't eliminated the encampments completely, but I think we have reduced them. They maybe aren't quite as visible.

I think it's helped having the officer downtown. Having somebody dedicated to the business district has that presence that is a deterrent to some of their panhandling, public consumption and stuff that's a problem.

We disseminated an updated list on chronic drunks to some of the establishments downtown and in the area surrounding downtown that are selling alcohol to some of the homeless and chronic drunks. That seemed to work pretty well last time.

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Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch

Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook speaks Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008, during an interview with The Herald-Dispatch.

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