Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990 TAG: 9005160668
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
John H. Cease, currently chief of police in Morgantown, W.Va., was hired Tuesday from a field of 150 candidates. His salary is $51,818, and he is scheduled to begin work June 5.
In a news conference today, Cease said he emphasizes basic, rather than specialized, police services and tries to make sure the initial response by his patrol officers is the most professional and competent response possible.
"My emphasis is on the man who wears the uniform and pushes the car around in the rain on midnight shift," he said.
Cease, 42, said he is not familiar enough with problems in the department or community to make recommendations for changes in law enforcement in the county. But, he said, his approach will be to identify problems, get input from his staff and citizens and come up with a way of dealing with those problems.
Cease said that after touring the county public safety building, he was impressed with the quality of staff in the department. He said he plans to deal fairly and impartially with his personnel and wants to give them input into their jobs.
The new chief said he has a reputation for being a team builder. The Morgantown Police Department will not experience "much of a void" when he leaves, Cease said, because he will leave behind well-trained officers who are fully capable of running the department.
Cease said he chose to come to Roanoke County for three reasons. Being the first chief presents a unique opportunity and challenge to a career law enforcement person, he said. County officials convinced him they are serious about making the new department work and work well, he said.
And, he said, the quality of life in the Roanoke Valley appears to be what his family is looking for. After spending hours researching schools, housing, recreation and life in general in the Roanoke Valley, Cease said, his family found that "you people have a real good thing here."
If Roanoke County and Roanoke voters choose to merge the two governments this fall, Cease said, he would "focus on the best transition for law enforcement in the valley . . . At this point in time, I don't have any aspirations to be anything other than chief of police of Roanoke County."
Cease said he has not yet met Sheriff Mike Kavanaugh, who will relinquish law enforcement duties July 1 after county residents voted last November to create a police department that will be under the supervision of the county administrator.
The new chief said he will make every effort to get along with Kavanaugh, who has been a controversial figure and has had a number of public fights with the Board of Supervisors. "I expect to pledge my cooperation to the sheriff and ask that he work and cooperate with us."
Kavanaugh will continue to run the county jail and perform civil process and court security duties.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge offered Cease the job Tuesday morning after meeting with him and his family for a final interview in Roanoke.
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.
Cease 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.
The police department is scheduled to begin operating July 1 and will have about 100 employees.
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