By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
New Police Chief Paul Luster is working with his fellow officers to figure out their needs to help develop a better police force in St. Joseph.
Luster says through conversations within the department a common theme he's heard officers need is better wellness practices and retention and staffing of officers.
Luster says to figure out some solutions he's in the process of putting together what he calls the Chiefs Advisory Panel
"That's going to consist of members of the department, all different ranks, sworn, our professional civilian staff as well from all the different divisions so I can get all those different perspectives, and my plan is to form the group based on topics," Luster tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr.
Luster says the panel will meet regularly so he can hear his officers' thoughts on topics that will help improve the police force in St. Joseph
"What do they think we should be doing, and I want to bring my experiences to the table as well, but I think any effort is doomed if it just comes down from Chief Lusters office that this is our new wellness initiative and they had no input in that, that's not going to work," Luster explains. "So, I want them to have that input and hear what they need, hear what they want, and then how can we relate that to maybe some national best practices."
Luster says forming these practices will help with officers mental and physical well-being, which will also allow them to serve the community better.
"When they're in a good place mentally, when they're in a good place physically, that allows for better service, that's the officers you want out there serving this community," Luster says. "So very important to me, very near and dear to my heart, this is a tough job to do so it's very near and dear to my heart that we're doing the best we can, department leadership is doing the best we can to provide these resources."
Luster says he's very anxious to get initiatives off the ground and to meet with officers in each division to discuss how to improve and grow in those areas.