Approaching the end of his first year on the job, Hopkinsville Police Department Chief Jason Newby gave an intimate look to what’s on his desk during Tuesday’s Hopkinsville Rotary Club meeting — detailing the efforts and challenges of 2023.
Among the notables:
— For the first time in 13 years, HPD became fully staffed. This includes 77 officers, 21 dispatchers and six civilians.
— More than 4,400 citations led to more than 7,700 criminal counts issued.
— More than 2,600 arrests led to more than 4,500 criminal charges.
— More than $200,000 in drug money was reclaimed, and more than 180 illegal guns were repossessed.
— HPD’s dispatchers answered more than 51,000 calls for service.
— And homicides within the city limits fell from nine in 2022, to one in 2023.
In the 2024 outlook, Newby said the plan is to bring back the popular Citizen’s Academy sans ride-alongs due to safety, ask the Hopkinsville City Council for more officers and implement four more school resource officers to campuses inside the city’s limits.
Furthermore, Newby said this week brings two conversations — one held yesterday with federal officers, and one Friday with the Hopkinsville Salvation Army.
The goals, respectively, are to keep pushing for gun charges that require 85% time served without parole, and to meet the needs of Hopkinsville’s homeless.
Outside of gun violence and fentanyl, Newby said this is one of the city’s bigger concerns, due largely to transiency. And a coming ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court may change jurisdictions.
Newby assured help is offered to those in need, but isn’t always welcomed.
Newby also detailed what many seem to be a myth about Christian County.
There is a legitimate gang issue.
Newby also clarified that while Hopkinsville’s police pay isn’t as high as other municipalities in west Kentucky, he’s been able to reach a full department because of the removal of red tape. The policy manual has been condensed from 76 to 17, and he says his officers are simply free to “do their job” while helping the community at large.
A 1994 graduate of Christian County High School, Newby has spent his past 30 years in public service roles within and near Hopkinsville. After four years in the Marine Corps, he worked for two years at the Christian County Jail before turning in 16 years as a Kentucky State Police trooper — eventually retiring as a lieutenant in 2016. In 2001, he re-enlisted in the Marine Reserves following 9/11, and after KSP worked alongside Christian County Sheriff Tyler D’Armond as chief deputy before accepting this role last April.
