Dad, animal lover, and Firestone’s police chief
Although he gets great joy watching his 15-year-old son play basketball and attending his 16-year-old daughter’s cheerleading events, he also likes to watch new movie releases.
“My family brings me the most joy in my life. When I have a stressful day and I go home to my wife of 20 years and my family, it sets everything in perspective and I realize how truly blessed I am. I am also a huge animal lover.”
That is spoken from the heart of Firestone’s newly hired police chief, David Angelo, who holds a bachelor of science in criminal justice and a master of science in strategic leadership.
Including supervisors and command staff, he oversees a total of 28 sworn police officers plus several recruits waiting in the wings at the Firestone Police Department. When asked what the goals he has set for the police department this year, he listed the following:
1) Employee wellness: This is at the forefront. “There has never been a more challenging time in our history than now to be a police officer. Unfortunately, research has shown that the life expectancy of police officers is almost 22 years less than the life of the civilians they serve and protect. The Firestone Police Department has already started addressing this well before my arrival in conducting and has partnered with Sigma Tactical Wellness to participate in a comprehensive cardiac screening evaluation.”
2) Recruiting and retention: “As the Town of Firestone continues to grow it will be critically important that we recruit, hire, and retain qualified officers who have a passion for service to their community. I want the Firestone Police Department to be the ‘Chick-fil-a’ of police departments, where we provide outstanding customer service to all our residents, businesses, and visitors.”
3) Community engagement: “My role as the police chief is to avail myself to the public to talk with them and address their needs. I have already started doing this and hope to grow our community meetings. We began this starting with our Meet & Greet here at the Firestone Police Department and Town Hall buildings on Wednesday, March 2. We are also researching automatic crime mapping where the community can see what is happening in Firestone in real time. More to come on this!”
4) Responding to crime and quality of life issues: “Collaborative partnerships between the Firestone Police Department and the community we serve are paramount to developing solutions to problems. One of the major benefits of forming this partnership is the increase in trust that the community holds with our police department. We recognize that we cannot do this job alone. The community is our force multiplier. We are strongest when this confluence between our police department and community merges that we can impact crime and improve the quality of life for our community.
“One of the most important goals I hope to achieve this year within the police department is building trust internally within the police department and externally with the community. This continues to be the cornerstone of my leadership practice.
“My personal goals include continuing to move the Firestone Police Department forward. We have outstanding an dedicated police officers, and I want to create a culture here where officers want to come and work, and those already here want to stay. In order to do this we cannot sit idle. I cannot become complacent on past successes. One way I try to be successful is to learn something new every day. One of my favorite books is ‘The Compound Effect’ by Darren Hardy. One message in this book is that the key to success is consistency. He states that small choices/decisions made with consistency over time yields significant results. I adhere to that statement.”