Chief Jerry Keller will be retiring in October and he deserves our thanks for his dedicated career in law enforcement and his commitment to making Kingston a safe place to live.
I first meet Jerry Keller when I was about 16 years old, I called him when I was organizing a neighborhood watch in Ward 7&8 with Bill Reynolds and Bob Senor. Keller invited me to his office gave me books he had on previous neighborhood watch programs and offered any help he could do to assist with the group, he came and spoke and it went well.
I got to become friends with the chief after that and would have coffee with him and a bunch of other people saturday mornings at the Foxhall Deli. Chief Keller is a man that is very community orianted, cares about people and someone that would give you the shirt off his back. Keller is also tough as nails and runs a great police department that under his leadership Kingston has witnessed sharp declines in serious crime.
Which is why it's disturbing with what went on with the Matthews situation and the timing of the Chief's retirement, people are whispering about the department and speculating based on nothing more than rumors. It's not fair to Keller, the people that are speculating and starting these rumors have no clue what they are talking about. One thing for certian is that Jerry Keller is as honest as the day is long and is a very effective police chief.
Jerry Keller who was trained by the FBI and holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Marist will not be easy to replace and whoever the next chief of police is, will have some very big shoes to fill. I wish Chief Keller a happy retirement and thank him for his years of service to our community.
3 comments:
Jeremy
Tell me one thing he has done to make our city better?
Please
I look forward to Ms. Ball being our alder-woman. I will do whatever she needs to help make this ward a better place to live.
I invite her to call me for anything she may need.Paul W.
341: I can name several, he along with Mayor Sottile were one of the first municipalities in Ulster County to team up with URGENT, which has done a lot of great things in reducing drug and gang crime in our community.
He has been a 24/7 police chief, spending coutless hours at neighborhood watch meetings, victims and families homes and on the scene of crimes ensuring that our community is safe.
He brought in the Blue and grey program, that teamed the KPD and the state police up to incease patrols in Midtown Kingston.
The guy is responsive and has done a great deal, I have nothing but respect for this man. I wish he was going to continue leading the Kingston Police Department.
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