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Siloam Proud Wednesday, June 29, 2022 n C5 Siloam Springs Herald-Leader • Quality Aftermarket Automotive Parts A Real Automotive Parts Store that supports its community 880 S. Lincoln St. Siloam Springs 479-524-3760 Proud to serve Siloam Springs! VISIT US AT: 460 S. Holly St., Siloam Springs, AR 479-524-0333 Let's celebrate our community where we work, play and live. Siloam Springs offers a great family environment where our parks, shops, r•taurants and busin•s• just make it "feel like home." We are proud to serve Siloam Springs Police chief looks back on first two years in Siloam Springs By Marc Hayot Staff Writer n mhayot@nwadg.com Allan Gilbert has served as chief of police for the city of Siloam Springs since Jan. 6, 2020 and is taking the time to look back on his career leading the city's police department. Gilbert served in the Tupelo (Miss.) Police De - partment as assistant po- lice chief when the city of Siloam Springs hired the him for the top spot. In the two years that Gilbert has served Siloam Springs he has formed numerous re - lationships with the com- munity, he said. A lot of headway has been made regarding community relationships, Gilbert said. The only challenge the chief has encountered has been the coronavirus. "My first two years have been under covid," Gil - bert said. "In the last few months I've been able to get out and speak at churches and community meetings." Gilbert has also built relationships with other departments and the Ben - ton County Sheriff's Office, he said. The police depart- ment was able to put a memorandum of under- standing (MOU) in place with the sheriff's office giving the Siloam Springs Police Department juris- diction to go to City Lake Park and Siloam Springs Kayak Park, Gilbert said. The two parks are owned by the city of Siloam Springs so the police de - partment has jurisdiction there, but the roads to the parks are outside of the city limits and are the jurisdic- tion of the Benton County Sheriff's Office, Gilbert said. The MOU gives the Siloam Springs Police De- partment jurisdiction on the roads that lead to the parks, Gilbert said. "We've had a lot of suc- cess and when covid lifts we can do more," Gilbert said. "My family is hum- bled by the community support." Looking back In the two years that Gil- bert has been a part of the SSPD, he has restructured the command staff by add- ing two lieutenant slots and one sergeant slot, he said. Presently, Gilbert is not filling the deputy chief slot because he wants to have more officers on the street, he said. He has also renovated the building, re-accredited the department, added a motorcycle unit, transi - tioned handguns and long guns so all officers will be issued the same service weapons, and updated the training program, Gilbert said. Gilbert also leased 18 new vehicles and adjusted patrols so vehicles would not have be in use con - stantly, he said. Under the old system the average police car has 65,000 miles per year, said Captain Scott Miller. Under the new meth - od of patrolling those same vehicles now aver- age 24,000 miles per year, Miller said. "The vehicles were in bad shape because they ran 24/7," Gilbert said. "Now they run half the time so the vehicles last longer." The AWIN (Arkansas Wireless Information Net - work) was set up under Gilbert and new units to enhance service to the community have been cre- ated, he said. Probably the biggest victory for Gilbert was the implementation of a step plan which would place police officers under the rank of captain on a plan to get an annual raise. Under the step plan, non-certified police of - ficers start at $18.50 per hour, Gilbert said. When the officer completes his certification he will receive a three percent raise, Gil- bert said. Also if non-police city employees receive a five percent raise, the police will also receive a five per- cent raise, Gilbert said. If city staff receives a smaller raise, the officers will still get their annual three percent raise regardless, Gilbert said. Looking forward Gilbert said he is far from finished with upgrading the department. The chief wants to purchase load bearing vests, which will help officers as they carry their gear, he said. Officers carry a lot of weight on their hips so the load bearing vests will put more of the weight on the officer's shoulders by con - necting their equipment belt to the vest, he said. "Police aren't super he- roes," Gilbert said. "We're more like Batman with tools on our tool belt." Other purchases the police chief wants to make are body cameras for patrol officers as well as a multi- purpose building and big - ger parking lot, Gilbert said. Presently, SSPD has two body cameras which are being used by the motor- cycle unit which consists of two officers, Gilbert said. A major change Gilbert wants to make is to refit the jail and turn it into a temporary holding facility as well as purchasing a van to transport prisoners to Benton County Jail, he said. "When an officer makes the arrest he is out of pocket (off of patrol) for two hours to get to Benton County for processing," Gilbert said. "I want to start using the jail as a holding facility and do a transport once every five hours." Gilbert said in order to meet these goals it would take the continuation of the one-cent sales tax to be split between the city and emergency services departments like police and fire. Under the current split for the one-cent sales tax 20 percent goes to the city's general fund, 40 percent is equally split between the police and fire depart - ments and 40 percent is relegated to the streets department. With the split, the po- lice department receives revenue from the tax and doesn't have to compete with other city depart- ments for a share of the general fund, Gilbert said. "If we didn't have the (one-cent sales tax) I am not sure we would have made the strides we did in my tenure," Gilbert said. Biggest difference Gilbert said the biggest difference between Siloam Springs and Tupelo is the volume of calls. When he worked in Tupelo he would receive approximately 300 calls per day, Gilbert said. The population of Tu - pelo was 38,271 as of 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau. Si- loam Springs' population in 2019 was 16,715, the Census Bureau states. "There's a lot of people you never get to meet in Tupelo," Gilbert said. The chief said policing is more hands on in Siloam Springs than in Tupelo and can have the oppor - tunity to meet everybody here. Gilbert said Tupelo was very good to him, but doesn't regret the move to Siloam Springs. Gilbert feels the future is very bright and that he has worked hard at rebuilding the police department's command structure. While Gilbert does not have any plans to leave, he feels the department has people in place who can step into Gilbert's role when the time comes, he said. A lot of good things were here already Gilbert said. With transformational leadership as his style of leading, Gilbert said he wants to prepare his offi - cers to advance further and not hire from the outside. Gilbert said he already hosted advanced training in Siloam Springs, specifi- cally the FBI's LEEDA (Law Enforcement Executive Development Association) Training. Training was held from May 2-6 and had approxi - mately 37 officers signed up from in and out of the state of Arkansas, Gilbert said. "So far I have had a truly blessed career," Gilbert said. "I want to thank ev - eryone for their support and hope to continue our relationships and have the best police department possible." Marc Hayot/Herald-Leader Chief Allan Gilbert poses at his desk. The Siloam Springs Police Chief looked back on his two years of service and said he feels blessed to be where he is.