The Haines Public Safety Advisory Board voted unanimously on Saturday to recommend police officer Jimmy Yoakum of Loudon County, Tennessee as next borough police chief. Yoakum stood out to the advisory board among the three finalists for the job during Saturday’s public Zoom roundtable. After deliberation in executive session, the advisory board also unanimously ranked officer Patrick Farris of Tuscaloosa, Alabama second, and officer Joshua Burkeen of Kildeer, North Dakota third in their preferences.
That recommendation now goes to clerk Mike Denker, who will make the final decision on the hire. Before he does, Denker will also conduct reference checks on all three candidates, and then put either one or two of the candidates through a formal background check process. Denker says he does not know yet whether those background checks will be conducted internally or by an outside firm. Also factoring into the decision will be a recommendation from the police chief interview panel. Denker’s final decision will then be put to the assembly for approval.
During the roundtable, top candidate Yoakum drew heavily on specific career examples to pitch himself as a chief focused on personal relationships and transparency. The former patrol and school resource officer – and current high school criminal justice teacher – said there was “nothing that will degrade public trust quicker than ‘just the facts ma’am, can’t talk about that, can’t show you this or that.’” Yoakum promised to give the public broad access to “officers, chiefs, plans, and policies,” and said this would be true even for members of the public who “just naturally won’t like law enforcement.”
“You can still build mutual respect,” Yoakum said. “There are a lot of people that I wouldn’t ask to go fishing, but we’ve had conversations to understand where each is coming from, and have parted amicably.”
Notable answers from Yoakum included stories from his time policing in rural communities around Loudon County, Tennessee, where he said response time for his backup could be up to 45 minutes away. In one story, Yoakum described addressing town-wide distrust in the police after a series of unsolved burglaries. Yoakum, who was Greenback Public School’s school resource officer at the time, said he took the initiative to join a regular breakfast of local community leaders at the Greenback Corner Market to build personal relationships. The Greenback Corner Market could not be reached for comment.
On that issue of community trust, the other two candidates talked about similar principles of being visible in the community, though with fewer specific stories than Yoakum. That was of note, as all of clerk Denker’s questions asked for specific examples from the candidate’s careers.
Both Farris and Burkeen mentioned similar programs, like coffee with cops, holding town halls, and planning community fundraisers as ways to “humanize actions police take,” as Farris put it.
The other primary issue put to the candidates was the challenge of policing in the remote setting of Haines. That question was where answers diverged the most: Burkeen, answering first, said that policing in Haines would be “just like any other law enforcement, big or small,” and said that the “pace might be slower but the role of the police officer is very much the same.”
Farris and Yoakum, however, said that they saw rural policing as quite different from urban policing. Farris emphasized the increased importance of relationships with residents and the imperative for officers to be “generalists” over “specialists.” Farris noted how while policing in Vance, Alabama – a town of just over 2,000 – he filled in driving a fire truck, on medical calls, and helping utilities dig water lines. “You just jump in in times of need,” Vance said.
Yoakum also spoke of the increased visibility of each officer. He was the only officer who spoke specifically about Tlingít culture and community, saying that learning and being “culturally aware and respectful” would be part of his job as chief.
Of note from the second and third-ranked candidates:
Farris leaned on his career experience and qualifications, speaking in his opening statement about his multiple tours as a Army Reserve Sergeant Major and combat veteran. “The two things I’ve ever wanted to do in my life were to be a police officer and a soldier,” Farris said. He also described himself as having been “infatuated with Alaska” since elementary school, and said moving to Haines would fulfill that lifelong dream.
Burkeen focused slightly less than the other two candidates on prior experience and more on personal and family life. In his opening statement he spoke about his wife and children, and said that as chief he would strive to be “just another citizen.” Burkeen was the only candidate who did not use the full allotted three minutes for his opening statement.
In his closing statement, Burkeen returned to this theme, but this time with a new tack. “I’m not the most seasoned of the three panelists – I’m still very much active in my career,” Burkeen said, before saying that he was looking for a place to call home – not a “retirement career for a few years.” It was the first time any of the candidates had drawn any explicit comparisons with one another.
Farris followed with his closing statement, saying that he, too, wants to live in Haines for the rest of his life.
If Yoakum is selected by Denker, he would bring to Haines experience as a high-school criminal justice teacher, patrol officer, school resource officer, and army intelligence officer. Outside of work, Yoakum said he is a long-time youth sports coach and is “heavily involved” at his church, where he founded the church’s motorcycle ministry.
Yoakum was also the founding president of the Tennessee chapter of law-enforcement only motorcycle club Gunfighters MC but retired from the club when he retired from full-time law-enforcement. He said in a separate conversation with CVN that riding motorcycles is a big part of his life; as for the club, Yoakum said he appreciated the camaraderie with the roughly seven other members. And, while he said he does still believe in the “gunfighter’s creed” – the national club’s abiding principles – he said the club never defined him. “I can’t remember ever being embarrassed by the patch,” Yoakum said, noting poor conduct he saw from other motorcycle clubs. “But it never took the place of my principles – things like community policing and transparency.”