Graves well received
The new Bella Vista Police Chief, James Graves, went out to Lakepoint Restaurant and Events Center to meet and speak with residents Thursday.
“He seems pretty decent,” Bella Vista Radio Club treasurer Marc Whittlesey said. “He’s got big shoes to fill after (former chief Ken) Farmer’s departure.”
It was good to meet with Graves, he said, because the amateur radio club has an emergency plan in place and can help work with police if their normal communication channels are somehow rendered unusable.
In addition to meeting Graves he said, he was able to set up time to talk with him later.
Chief Graves said he was glad to come out.
“I love it,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of folks these past few months. This was nice tonight, but it’s just kind of a continuation of what I’ve been doing these past couple months.”
Community outreach like this, he said, is already something the department has made significant effort in and he doesn’t intend to change much of how the department operates.
He’s open, he said, to doing a similar event down the road. Moreover, he said, he’d be happy to come out and meet with different groups in the city.
He’s glad to see that residents tend to be happy with the department, he said.
“I think it’s very, very important to keep that relationship with the department and the community,” Graves said.
Resident Jim Beckwith said he moved to Bella Vista roughly a year ago from northeast Nebraska and he’s trying to learn more about his new home, so meeting the chief was a good use of his time.
Beckwith said he spent 21 years in the army and it was good to meet someone else with military service.
“I think James is going to do a good job,” he said.