This morning I heard they have received numerous applications for chief of police and that we have applicants who have a lot of experience! The problem is they are not from Haines and our track record of hiring from outside has led to serious issues that not only blemish the Haines Borough but cost the citizens a lot of money to correct! I believe that Simon Ford deserves the job of chief of police. He is from Haines and has shown he can do the job efficiently and that he has learned how important it is to work with people, not against them. Simon has matured greatly in his job and I believe that this has become the true meaning of “do not try to fix something that was already broken and has been fixed”! As with anything, Simon will not be perfect. No human is, but he is doing a great job and has slowly been building a force where the citizens and the police not only get along but actually have respect for each other. He inherited a mess and in a very short period of time cleaned it up and moved it forward and he deserves to reap the harvest of his efforts. We do not need to shake things up again!
Dean Lari