New Southaven police chief makes smooth transition into new post
Photo: Chief Seth Kern in his office at Southaven police headquarters on Northwest Drive. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Using policies and procedures already in place, New Southaven Police Chief Seth Kern has enjoyed a smooth transition into a position overseeing law enforcement in Mississippi’s third-largest city. As new police chief, Kern will continue to increase the number of officers on the police force while reducing the number of criminal incidents happening, especially close to the city’s border with Memphis.
Kern was selected as new police chief and was sworn into office at the Board of Aldermen meeting on May 20. Alex Fennell was also promoted to assistant chief, the actions following the retirements of Brent Vickers and Jason Scallorn.
One of the challenges Kern is facing as he begins his new position is to get the police force closer to a goal of 162 officers. He said the force presently consists of just over 150 officers and the additional hirings would make for a full complement.
However, a declining number of qualified applicants is making those hirings more challenging. Kern said it’s a problem not unusual in law enforcement today.
“Probably along with every other agency in the continental United States and Hawaii, we are looking to hire officers,” Kern said. “It’s nothing unique to us and you see it all over the country.”
More officers have reached retirement age and it’s up to departments to fill those gaps with new officers, and along with the lower number of applicants, it makes getting qualified officers on the job more difficult.
The Southaven police department has very high standards for its officers and with the volume of highly qualified applicants falling, more time in training has to be done.
“Our training division has to spend a lot of time going through the background investigation portion to make sure that we are even getting to the point where we have qualified applicants to interview and bring them into the further process,” he said.
A number that is going down, and that is a positive, is the drop in crime numbers in Southaven. Kern said the department has seen a significant reduction in crime in the last year, which he attributes to proactive policing and the beginning of “Operation Close the Door,” aimed at concentrating on stopping criminals from coming down from Memphis.
It’s a program Kern said will continue because it’s been successful.
“It’s been very fruitful,” Kern said. “The guys stay very active as far as citations and arrests go and we saw a 35 percent reduction in crime last year in the city. I don’t think that you’re going to go around finding that in too many locations.”
Officers who work the north city limits have been stopping cars without license tags and traffic violations, which can lead to a narcotics or weapons arrest, suspended driver’s license or stolen vehicles.
At the same time, the new police chief said crime comes from all directions and doesn’t just come from Memphis.
The new police chief looks to make very few changes in how the department operates. The command team makes decisions as a team.
“We talk things out,” Kern said. “We don’t make a rash decision and we talk things out to try to find the best possible answer for us in the city.”
Southaven is known as a very proactive police department and Kern said the department will continue that, saying his officers will be fair but firm in the application of the law.
