Checking In On Vernon, Alabama’s New Police Chief

VERNON, Ala. (WCBI)- Vernon had the same police chief for over 20 years.

As of Tuesday, the new chief has been on the job for 29 days.

Davy Eaves is no stranger to the department and is already making some changes.

Eaves took on the role on November 5th.

Wednesday, officially marks one month on the job and he has some big plans for the future.

Vernon Mayor Glenn Crawford says picking the new police chief was as simple as taking the word assistant off of Davy Eaves’s shirt.

In fact, the decision was really made four years ago, when Eaves was promoted to assistant chief.

“I told the city council and I told the police chief at that time, that we were going to put somebody in that position that would train to be our next chief. We were not going to wait and try to interview and find somebody off of two or three visit type deals to be our chief. We were going to put our next chief in and let them be the assistant.”

Eaves has only been in law enforcement for eight years, but wearing the badge has been his dream for decades.

“I wanted to do law enforcement right out of high school and had a desire to do it, but just never had the opportunity. So, when the opportunity arose I took advantage of it and then I’ll be sitting here as the chief and sometimes you do have to pinch yourself and I think am I really here?”

The mayor says the community is already bragging on changes that Eaves has brought to the force, as chief.

“They are excited to see that the officers are being seen more. They actually go out to the school almost every morning now, and they’re there when the buses unload and that’s all about school safety, we all know that. They have gone out during the day and do checks at the school.”

Eaves has also already built an interrogation room inside the department, with more plans to come.

“Our goal in the future is to try to get a computer in each car to where we can do everything in the car and we don’t have to come back to the office and do anything if we don’t want to, so that’s something that we’re looking into doing. We’ve got to stay out in front of the criminals.”

Eaves wants to change the interaction most people think of when they meet an officer.

“You need to teach your kids early on that the cops are the good guys. Don’t tell them that the cops are going to get them. Kids should want to run to a cop if there’s something wrong. That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to protect and to serve and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Eaves will be choosing the new assistant police chief within the next four to six months.