After being an officer with the department for more than a decade, the new Clayton Police Chief has some big plans in store for his officers and the community.
Chief Andrew Davis has taken over as Chief of Police for the Clayton Police Department after 14 years of service to the department. (Caitlyn Stulpin | For NJ.com) CLAYTON -- Chief Andrew Davis of the Clayton Police Department sat in his oversized chair, hands folded on the desk in front of him. His new office was riddled with "Clayton PD" memorabilia on the walls and shelves. His desk was covered in paperwork and folders, plans for the rest of 2016 sticking out the corners, but on the corner of the desk, standing out against the black and white, was a jar of brightly colored Starbursts.
"They're there for anyone who comes in to my office to talk," he said. "I find that they tend to avoid the yellow ones since I end up with almost a quarter of the jar of just yellow at the end of the week."
Davis, 37, was appointed as the new Clayton Police Chief on August 11, after 14 years of service with the department, preceded by time with Wildwood Police Department as a class two special officer and the Pitman Police Department. Now, he will be overseeing 17 officers and making $107,200 annually. As the chief, Davis has some pretty big plans in store for the department and shared them during a Q&A session.
Q: Did you always want to be a police officer?
A: You know what, most kids want to grow up and be cops or firefighters, that's the typical little kid dream but that wasn't me. I didn't really know what I wanted to be but I never dreamed of being a cop. But you know those job placement tests that you take in middle school? The ones that take your traits and tell you what you'd be good at? I took one of those and it told me I should be a cop. So, I looked into it and oddly enough it really was for me.
Q: So, you ended up loving it?
A: Yeah, you know, I get to help people and interact with the community. That's the part of it that I fell in love with, the romantic view of being a police officer. It's the helping people and being like a modern day knight, that makes it all worth it. Granted, it's not all like that, but that's the stuff that really makes it worth it.
Q: Do you still get to be the "modern day knight" as the chief?
A: Being the chief is a lot of administrative work. It's a lot of paperwork and signatures and it's not nearly as much interaction with the public, which is the part that I liked the best. But, while I don't get to really interact as much and I don't get to be out there doing the good work with the public, I do get to direct the officers. I can tell them what to do and where to go and I can get them interacting with the public in the way that I want them to, helping the community and making the positive difference.
Q: Aside from getting officers interacting more, are there any other big plans you've got in the works for the Clayton PD?
A: There are a lot of things I want to do during my time as the chief, and again, a lot of them are centered around community interaction.
I really want to get police back in schools. D.A.R.E. was a great program and it had officers in school talking to kids and educating them, so bringing back a program like that is a high priority. Schools and cops should always have positive interaction.
I also want to survey the community and speak to the citizens. As an officer I see a lot of things going on and I view things from a cops perspective. While we, as a department, are doing great things throughout Clayton I'm sure there are things we could be doing better or be doing differently. I want to know what we're missing and what we're overlooking.
I also saw another department did this thing where they invited a young kid from the community to be a cop for a day. That's something I would really love to do. For all officers, there's something that really touches your heart when a kid gets involved. They look up to cops, they want to be cops, and I would love to give a kid that opportunity. Especially if it's a kid that's faced some type of hardship. It'd be a great experience for the kid to be "sworn in" as an officer for the day, ride around in the car, and see what we do. It'd also be a really special thing for the officers. I hope that if someone knows of a kid for this that they'll reach out so we can make it happen.
Q: After working as an officer in Clayton for so long, do you have anything you want to say to the town now that you're the chief?
I am proud to say that I work with some of the finest men to wear the uniform and that the citizens of Clayton are second to none. There has been a lot of negative media reports recently against the police and I can say the support that the citizens have given to this PD has been unbelievable. I have had children make cookies and cupcakes and drop them off with their thanks, churches showing their support, the Clayton Elks Lodge, the Clayton Seniors Citizens made over two dozen cards and dropped them off to the police department, the Clayton Crime Watch. The list goes on, too many to mention. I just want to give a heart felt thanks to all of them.
Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.