By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Officials with the City of St. Joseph have named the next Chief of Police.
Paul Luster. who spent 25 plus years with the Kansas City Police Department, will take over leadership of the St. Joseph Police Department next month.
Luster says he was drawn to St. Joseph after participating in a training session in the city two years ago.
"Thought to myself then this is a really neat city, so when I saw the opportunity for the police chief opening didn't have to really think about it much," Luster tells reporters following his introduction as police chief. "Talked to my family and away we went."
The search for the next Police Chief began back in September after Chris Connally retired. Commander Dave Hart served as the Chief of Police in the interim.
Luster says that the community involvement in the search for the next police chief really solidified his decision to want to be here.
"The level of engagement was incredible, I was impressed with the amount of community that showed up, we had the panel interviews and then the community meet and greet, I was just impressed with the community," Luster says. "I was impressed with how much they care about this community and how much they care about who their police chief was going to be, and so I want them heavily involved in everything that I'm doing, how can we do better to effectively police this community."
Luster will take over as Police Chief on June 26th.