Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990 TAG: 9005160474
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge offered Cease, 42, the job Tuesday morning after meeting with him and his family for a final interview in Roanoke. Cease planned to remain in Roanoke until at least today.
Hodge had spoken favorably of Cease after interviewing him for the first time two weeks ago, and last week he named Cease as one of his top two choices for the job.
Cease has been Morgantown police chief since 1983. His department has 48 sworn officers and 12 civilian employees.
He was chosen from about 150 applicants for the job, and was among four finalists recommended by representatives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. That group conducted a daylong series of tests on the nine top finalists for the position.
County residents voted in November to take law-enforcement duties away from an elected sheriff and create a police department that would be under the supervision of the county administrator.
The vote appeared to support the contention of the Board of Supervisors that residents were unhappy with Sheriff Mike Kavanaugh's performance in the two years he had been sheriff. Kavanaugh will continue to run the county jail and perform civil process and court security duties.
The police department is scheduled to begin operating July 1 and will have about 100 employees.
County officials say Cease, who will receive a salary of about $51,000, hopes to begin work by June 4.
Cease was born in Battle Creek, Mich., and was raised in Warren, Pa. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1969 from Albion College in Albion, Mich., and a master's degree in criminal justice administration from Michigan State University in 1974.
Cease began his career as a patrol officer in the Albion Police Department in 1968 and had attained the rank of corporal by the time he left the department in 1973.
That year, Cease was recruited for the position of administrative assistant with the Western Michigan University Police Department in Kalamazoo, where he helped the chief of police set up a new law enforcement agency.
In that position, Cease developed and wrote a policy and procedure manual, recruited and screened police applicants, helped set up a communications center, coordinated training and purchasing of equipment and helped develop a computerized police records system.
Later that year, Cease was appointed commander of the patrol division of that department and was promoted to police chief there in 1980. As chief of the university police department, Cease was responsible for 53 full-time and 14 part-time employees and a 1980-81 budget of $1.3 million.
In 1983, Cease was selected as police chief in Morgantown, where he was responsible for a full-service police department in a city of about 30,000 residents and 20,000 students at West Virginia University.
Cease increased manpower in the department, purchased better equipment, improved training programs and computerized the records system during his stay in Morgantown. He was instrumental in the the construction of a new public safety building in Morgantown, which is scheduled to be occupied in early June.
His proposed salary in Morgantown for 1990-91 is about $42,000 and his operating budget for 1990-91 is about $2 million.
by CNB