The deputy chief of the St. Louis County Police Department is its new permanent leader.
The St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners voted Tuesday to elevate Lt. Col. Juan Cox to the chief’s role on a permanent basis. Cox had been acting chief since Kenneth Gregory retired in April.
“We’re blessed with an abundance of talent in St. Louis County,” Board Chairman Richard Banks said as he announced Cox had been picked over Lt. Col. Norman Mann, another internal candidate.
“It feels good to start out as a police recruit with a whole bunch of talented individuals, and to be here 31 years later as the police chief, Cox said. “I’m humbled, actually, and it’s a blessing.”
Cox, 57, joined the department in 1995 and has served in eight bureaus throughout the county. He is also responsible for creating the St. Louis County Police Athletic League and chaired the committee that led to construction of a child care facility for county police employees.
It was Cox’s “experience, his background, and quite candidly his results” that elevated him to the chief role, said police commissioner Brian Ashworth.
“He’s established himself, as had Lt. Col. Mann, on being very good candidates, and we’re just delighted to be that we got to choose between the two of them,” he said.
In a statement, County Executive Sam Page called Cox a “respected leader” who is “passionate about public safety and working with residents.”
Cox said he had a very simple vision for the department.
“I just want it to be recognized as one of the premier police departments in the nation. That’s community outreach, that’s leveraging technology, employee satisfaction, it’s all encompassing,” he said.
Joe Patterson, executive director of the St. Louis County Police Association, said in a statement that the union looked forward to working with Cox to increase public safety in the county while also improving working conditions for the officers.
“Ultimately, when our police family is thriving, the residents of St. Louis County receive the high level of police services they expect and deserve,” he said.
The Ethical Society of Police, which advocates for officers of color, said Cox’s appointment represented an “opportunity to strengthen trust, accountability and collaboration between law enforcement and the communities we are sworn to serve.”
The organization said it had regular dialogue with Cox when he was deputy chief to address concerns raised by the community and members of the department, and was “encouraged by the opportunity to continue working alongside Chief Cox to advance a culture that values professionalism, integrity, and respect for every member of the department and every resident of St. Louis County.”
Like most law enforcement agencies, St. Louis County is struggling to recruit and retain officers despite paying better than many neighboring departments. Though he offered few details, Cox said he planned to rethink how the department reaches out to potential recruits.
“We’re looking for people who want to serve the community,” he said. “We have a lot of people who want jobs like SWAT, but more of our officers are out on the road answering radio calls and communicating with the community.”
The police board spent nearly four hours in closed session Tuesday interviewing Cox and Mann and deliberating on the selection. Though the commissioners are familiar with their work in the day-to-day operations of the police department, Ashworth said the interview process allowed the board to go deeper.
“We got much more into what their future vision is, what they want to accomplish, where they want to leave the organization in the future,” he said.
This article originally appeared here.