It wasn’t the role he had always dreamed of, but goals can sometimes change.
Livingston Police Chief David Mitchell has now been with the Livingston Police Department for a little over two years after a stint at the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office.
On Aug. 1, he was appointed as chief of police in Livingston. Chief Matt Parish retired at the end of June after nearly 40 years of service, making Mitchell the interim for July. His experience as lieutenant, after taking over for Marty Drake, made Mitchell a desirable candidate as chief for Livingston City Manager Billy S. Wiggins and the council.
“In the beginning when I started this career, I had no desire to be any kind of supervision,” Mitchell said. “My ultimate goal when I started this was, I wanted to work investigations when it came to homicides, people crimes and aggravated offenses. That was my thing. It’s what I really had my heart in.”
Mitchell said he had a mentor in Andy Lowrie, who guided him as a rookie, encouraging him to pursue leadership positions.
“I had dealings with training people on patrol, but once I really got into the lieutenant role (at the PCSO) and promoted to that position, I was actually involved more in the decisions of operations and budget and helping train people that were one day going to replace me. Once I got into that mindset, I understood that my role was to take what I was taught and what I learned and pass it on to other people coming up that could either one day be my boss or replace me.
“Once I did all of that, left the sheriff ’s office and came over here, it was hard for me in the beginning just to be a patrol officer, because I was used to being in that role. I just continued that same thing over here, trying to help people in the leadership part of it, giving from my experience the knowledge that I had on things. When I came over here, I think I was a patrol officer for two to three weeks. I moved to the sergeant on patrol, and then after the position came open whenever the lieutenant had retired, I was appointed to that position.”
His priorities changed upon his arrival at the Livingston Police Department, desiring the role of chief.
“It completely changed. It went from not having that goal at that time. Once I got older in this profession and saw the good and the bad from different supervisors; it helped mold me. I knew, at that point, there was something I could give back to people. I felt it was very important to help these younger people coming up in law enforcement, to give them that experience on how to do the right thing, being professional, having integrity, your ethics, everything like that and how important it is.”
Mitchell said it was his childhood that got him into law enforcement.
“I think it was my upbringing. Everybody is raised differently. My uncle was a police officer, and a lot of (officers’) response is that family members were law enforcement. That has something to do with it, but there is something else that drives them. My goal was to work people crimes and to give people a voice. I worked child sex crimes and that is a lot of what drove me, because of stuff that I was around. I knew about childhood trauma and stuff that went on that wasn’t talked about a lot back then. It didn’t happen to me directly, but family members. I wanted to be able to be the voice for that child to give something for them to speak to. That is kind of what drove me to do it.”
The LPD has 27 officers under Mitchell with a handful of reserves as well. He has hopes of expanding soon, as he expects the area to grow.
“I’m pretty sure that everybody knows with the casino up and running, the expansion and Livingston growing is probably going to be substantial. That is going to become growth for us as well. I feel that we need more officers, especially for stuff like traffic. The way that Livingston is growing, my goal is to get more officers sooner rather than later.”
There are three openings currently within the department. The chief feels as though they are desirable positions amongst those looking for careers in law enforcement.
“We pay significantly more than the sheriff ’s office and other agencies around us. I think it is harder now to be the police with everything in social media and the negativity. There are bad apples, but there are bad apples in every profession. One bad apple doesn’t define everybody. There are good cops and there are genuine people who really care and want to help people. Everything that we are defined by is when certain officers make horrible decisions, which has a bad reflection on us.”
Mitchell said it is rare that compliments are relayed through phone calls or email. Yet, when they are, it can boost those who are feeling burnt out or in a rut.
Some of the changes in the department Mitchell has made have been geared toward helping his officers become more comfortable in their position. As someone who has had surgery on both his hip and back, the chief has researched things like weight-bearing vests and the impact of a gun’s weight on an officer’s hip. He has also changed the uniforms to get out of the old polyester style for something lighter and something easier to move in. Wearing a vest on top of polyester can make for scorching summers.
The department now has a drone, which will be launched during the upcoming Christmas parade in Livingston. He said it will be utilized more along with an increased presence on social media, as well as community involvement.
“One of the things I wanted to do was let the public know that the PD is not a speed trap. I wanted to let the officers be recognized for what they are doing and letting the general public know that we are doing other things than just pulling over cars and writing people tickets.”
Narcotics is the biggest problem in Livingston, according to Mitchell, along with traffic. The presence of a major highway can funnel unwanted crime into the area.
“You have it in the community, but it is not what it is in the county. I think the thing is that you have so many people that are coming through Livingston that have narcotics or something like that in their vehicle when they are transporting it. They come through the city, and we have proactive law enforcement. They make a lot of traffic stops and we find a lot of narcotics.”
Mitchell’s goal as chief is to set the department up for long-term success. His way will be pouring into the future.
“I wanted the opportunity to become police chief to put my culture on it and change the culture. I wanted to adapt with the times and the different laws now and provide the best officers that we can for the community. Professionalism, our values, are ethics and integrity – everything is very important. My goal is to have the best people and get them all the training they can get, because one day when I retire, somebody is going to replace me, and I just want them all to be squared away.”
