Morrilton police chief has career he always wanted
Morrilton police chief has career he always wanted
Morrilton Police Chief Sonny Stover said he always knew law enforcement was the career he wanted, not because a family member was an officer, but because his grandfather owned a wrecker service.
“I had been around it. Early on, my grandpa had a wrecker service, and he towed for the police when I was growing up, and going out on calls with him and cleaning up after accidents, I kind of knew that’s what I wanted to do,” the 41-year-old Stover said. It took Stover a while to get in uniform. “I’ve done a little bit of everything. I worked a pipeline out of high school as a welder’s assistant. My uncle was a pipeline welder, and I worked for him as a helper. Then I went to work for AmTran (in Conway) building school buses,” he said. It looked like the bus company might be his career. He stayed at AmTran, now IC Bus, for several years, working his way up to supervisor. “It was a lot of hours, but I did enjoy it. I worked with a lot of good people.”
Stover, who grew up in Morrilton, said he never quit thinking about law enforcement, but he went to work straight out of high school instead of going to college. The oldest of six children, Stover was 18 when his father died.
“I went to work and wanted to be able to help my mom if she needed it,” he said, and breaking into a career in law enforcement wasn’t easy. “It was hard back then unless you knew somebody or had a degree.”
I see a lot of differences, dealing with either the quorum court or city council, but it’s been good. I’ve really enjoyed it.” Morrilton Police Chief Sonny Stover A FORMER CONWAY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE DEPUTY
Things changed in 1997 when the Morrilton Police Department started an officers’ reserve program, and he was one of the first ones hired.
“I was getting my foot in the door in law enforcement,” he said. Stover underwent the 178-hour training course, which certified him as a parttime officer.
“I went and picked up a homicide suspect out of Texas with one of the full-time officers. I guess that was the biggest thing,” he said of his two-year stint in the reserves. He made it to sergeant, having built upon his supervisory role in the bus company. Stover said he was a “buffer” between then-Morrilton Police Chief Jim Williams and the reserve officers.
Stover applied for a position on the force and didn’t get it, but one day after work, he went to get gas at a Morrilton station. Williams drove up and made Stover’s day. Williams asked Stover if he was still interested in coming to work for the Morrilton Police Department, and Stover said he was.
“He said, ‘ When can you start?” I told him, ‘Tomorrow,’ but I gave two weeks notice,” Stover said. He became a fulltime Morrilton police officer in July 1999, and he was there until 2007.
He switched uniforms before coming back in as chief two years ago this January.
Stover had achieved the rank of corporal in the Police Department’s patrol division. In 2007, Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith was elected and was looking for a new investigator, Stover said. “I was ready for the next step up from patrol,” he said. “I knew Morrilton at the time; there were not going to be openings anytime soon.”
He switched to the Conway County Sheriff ’s Office as a criminal investigator and moved into the chief deputy’s position in 2008, a position just below the sheriff.
“Even as chief deputy, it allowed me to take part in investigations,” Stover said. “I’ve got one that still haunts me, and that was the John Glasgow missing-person case,” Stover said. Glasgow was chief financial officer and vice president of CDI contractors in Little Rock.
“I took over that case as a chief deputy in 2008. I still think about it. I worked with the [Arkansas] State Police. He’s still a missing person today. He left from his home in Little Rock, and his vehicle was found on top of Petit Jean Mountain at Mather Lodge. His keys … and work stuff were left in his vehicle, unlocked. There’s nothing that points to anything. It’s still a mystery to us,” Stover said.
Stover left the Sheriff ’s Office soon afterward to join the Morrilton Police Department.
When former Police Chief Norbert Gunderman became the Conway County tax col le c tor, Stover didn’t immediately want to go back to the police force.
“At first I didn’t consider it until I was approached by a few people, and they went to soliciting for resumes and applications, and I decided, ‘Well, I’m going to go ahead and try for it’ and was selected,” he said. “There is a little bit of difference — I’m getting used to the city side of it versus the county side of it. I see a lot of differences, dealing with either the quorum court or city council, but it’s been good. I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s about the same supervisory role I had at the Sheriff ’s Office as chief deputy. I’m basically the one in charge of the city, where I was second in command in the Sheriff ’s Office.”
Stover oversees 23 fulltime, certified officers and three noncommissioned employees. He oversees Morrilton Animal Control, which has one officer.
Clar issa Riedmuel le r, co-founder of KC Pet Rescue of Morrilton, praised Stover for helping to improve the city shelter, which received unflattering publicity for its condition.
“Chief Stover has been great working with KC Pet Rescue and all the volunteers,” Riedmueller said. “He takes our suggestions seriously. He accommodates our requests to the best of his ability. We all appreciate his work in getting the dog pound turned around for the better and [to] operate more as a shelter.”
The chief said the department also has a reserve-officer program, the way he started, and it has six members.
Stover said his biggest challenge, to date, has been improving morale within the department.
“When I took over as the chief, there were a lot of morale issues with the department. That’s been the big thing, getting that turned around,” he said. “I feel like the morale is really good at the Police Department right now. We’ve got a good relationship with the citizens of Morrilton, a good working relationship with the Sheriff ’s Office and with other agencies. That’s one of the things I hear a lot from people, that the city Police Department and Sheriff ’s Office actually work together as well as they do, because that’s not a common thing. We have an excellent working relationship.”
It helps that the police chief has been there, done that on the other side.
“I’ve worked hard emphasizing with the guys getting out and talking to the citizens of Morrilton, getting to know them,” Stover said. “We get a lot more community feedback, a lot more community support.”
A Citizens Police Academy brings in residents and shows them how the Police Department works.
“They’re able to go out and do a ride along with the officers. That’s been real good,” he said.
As far as crime in Morrilton, Stover said drugs are what he battles the most.
“Drugs are still a big thing everywhere. It’s not just Morrilton,” he said. “I see an increase in prescription-drug abuse — it’s a little bit on the rise. We don’t see as much methamphetamine production. … We don’t see hardly any of it at all in our county. A lot of meth is coming from out of state. The cartel is bringing it in, with us right here on the interstate. Of course, with drug abuse comes the break-ins and the burglaries, theft.”
Another challenge is similar to one in other cities, he said — no room for all the people arrested by police. He said that situation will be addressed via a planned future expansion of the county jail.
Because Stover grew up in Morrilton, he said he sometimes has to arrest former classmates or friends, but that’s part of the job.
“When you do wrong, you do wrong,” he said.
Stover’s goal is to continue to build community relations.
“We’re looking at trying to do some summer program to incorporate the school kids, to give them something to do in the summer,” he said. Stover said he wants the youth to get to know more officers than just their school resource officer.
He dreamed of a job in law enforcement as a child, and he made it. So what is next for Stover?
“I plan on staying here as long as they will allow me and, hopefully, retire from Morrilton. That is my goal — to stay with the city of Morrilton and to continue to build relationships there,” he said.