New Bellevue Police Chief Sets Priorities
It's official, the interim tag is dropped and Mark Elbert has been named the permanent Bellevue Chief of Police. He takes over for John Stacey who resigned in June 2012 amid public scandal. Stacey had been with the police department for more than 30 years. KMTV Action 3 News sat down with Chief Elbert Tuesday afternoon.
Mark Elbert says nothing has changed in the 24-hours he's been officially named Bellevue Police Chief. The first issue he's undertaking is something that's plagued the department for years. They're renovating a building to become the new Public Safety Facility. Currently, officers and investigators are in different buildings.
"In a word, efficiency. Right now we're spread out so far and it's a bit archaic as far as the procedures we have in place," Chief Elbert explained.
The city's growth is also a change that continues to take place especially to the south and with Offutt Air Force Base. Chief Elbert says they're watching it from all angles, while he believes in changing the culture internally.
"We value our people here; we invest in our people here. We can have all the nice buildings in the world, and all the nice equipment, but it still takes good people to do this job," Chief Elbert described.
Chief Elbert hopes to get started on next years' budget within a few weeks. They expect to be moving into the new Public Safety Facility by the start of next year.
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