By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A former Kansas Highway Patrol Captain has accepted the role as the new WaKeeney Police Chief.
Travis Phillips started in his new role on Wednesday.
The Wakeeney Police Chief has been filled on an interim basis by Trego County Sheriff Edward Pritchard since March, when the former chief, Michael Allen Romero, was put on administrative leave and ultimately removed as police chief.
A status conference is scheduled in the district court on that case on Sept. 16.
Phillips said overcoming the public's view of the department based on its recent past will be his biggest challenge.
"My biggest goal is to bring public perception of the Wakeeney Police Department to where it should be," he said, "So it can be something they can be proud of and rely on and know when they call us, the job is going to get done.
"It's going to take us doing our job and serving the public to our best ability to bring back the trust, I think that was possibly lost through negative law enforcement."
He said the biggest mistake he could make was implementing significant changes immediately.
"I need to settle into the job and see where we can serve the public better and more efficiently," he said.
The department has five full-time positions, including the chief, but one of those positions is vacant. In addition, the department employs two part-time officers and a community service officer.
Phillips said the vacant full-time position will be filled after January during the new budget year.
Phillips earned a criminal justice degree from Fort Hays State University in 1994.
He began his law enforcement career in 1991 with the Hays Police Department, before transitioning to the highway patrol in 1994. Phillips rose through the ranks of the KHP, serving as sergeant, master trooper, lieutenant and eventually being promoted to captain six years ago.
As a captain, Phillips oversaw an 18-county region. Phillips said he wanted to return to law enforcement because he missed being a trooper and the interactions he had with the community.
"As a trooper, there was a more localized area that I was in charge of being their protector," he said. "As a police chief, it brings me full circle and brings it home and allows me to take care of the city of WaKeeney and be in the community more.
"I wasn't done being a sheep dog."
After serving with the Kansas Highway Patrol, Phillips said he will have to change gears to perform municipal work.
"It's not a bad thing," he said. "I'm excited to learn a new trade as a police chief."