WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — The city of Webster Groves has a new police chief, Vincent Acevez. He took over the department this week after the last chief, Dale Curtis, retired following three decades of service.
Acevez is from Chicago and came out of retirement for this opportunity. He has more than two decades of law enforcement & emergency management experience in the Chicago area. Acevez's education includes a Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice and a Master of Science in public safety administration from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois.
Here's a look at Chief Acevez's career:
- He spent 20-plus years in law enforcement with the Cicero, IL police department.
- He began his career as a police officer and rose to the role of deputy chief.
- Currently, Acevez serves as the deputy director of the Cook County Emergency Management and Regional Security Division.
- He served as an Investigator for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
- He was chief of police for Morton College in Illinois.
"It's exactly what I expected. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm someone that needs to be challenged," Acevez said.
Acevez sat down with 5 On Your Side's Diamond Palmer for his first television interview since taking over as Webster Groves new police chief this week. His first day on the job was June 24th.
His biggest supporters are his wife and two children.
"We've been married for almost 20 years, have two daughters who are 15 and 12," Acevez said.
His goals for the department include building on some that have already been established and creating some of his own. In the long term, he would like to see becoming regional leaders in connecting with the community, mentoring young officers and building a culture of excellence.
The new police chief says he loves everything about Webster Groves and thanks the people who served before him.
"My predecessors, Dale, Greg, and Erich did a great job of cultivating excellent culture downstairs in the police department that I hope that I can build on," Acevez said. Webster Groves doesn't have a lot of crime, knock on wood. And we want to continue to keep it that way."
The city hopes to continue that with a new drone program. One that was added this spring with a $20,000 price tag.
Some residents are concerned about privacy and the cost of the drones. Their main concerns with the drones are privacy and costs. But under Missouri's Sunshine Law, residents can request the footage.
Webster Groves Police said they're taking steps to ensure privacy is not violated.
Acevez has worked with drones before in criminal cases including looking for missing children and thinks the tools will help.
"I just think there's a myriad of uses for the drone. Not only does it enhance the effectiveness in act as a force multiplier for the department, but it's a tremendous enhancement for safety from from the residents perspective," Acevez said.
The department has one officer who passed testing this week and now has his FAA drone license. Eventually Webster Groves hopes to have 6 drone certified officers.
Acevez wants the community of Webster Groves to know one thing about coming into his new role.
"The biggest challenge always, when you're going into any new position, whether or not you're coming in as an outsider, or you're moving within an organization is earning trust, earning the trust of the officers in the police department, earning the trust of elected officials, earning the trust of the city manager, earning the trust of all the community stakeholders involved," Chief Acevez said. "That's a tough thing to do. And that's the most important thing you have to do because I've learned a lot of hard lessons in leadership. I've made a lot of mistakes, I have a lot of leadership scars, all those things have made me a better leader. Not the best, but I'm always striving for improvement but the way that you build that trust is just to care about people."