I would like to take a moment to ask each of you as you view this site to look at the information provided within the website. We hope that you will check back often for important updates about your police department. It is a tremendous honor to serve the Town of Newport as Chief of Police. An honor I do not take lightly. Being born and raised in Newport like many of our citizens, we have witnessed many changes to our small town over the years. Our town has grown to nearly 5,000 citizens. With growth comes opportunities as well as challenges. I am keenly aware of what makes Newport the great place that it is. It's with that awareness that I remind myself and our staff constantly, of the humbling responsibility each of us have to the citizens, and those who have served here before us. I genuinely believe we have a very dedicated staff. Our officers are professionally trained, well educated, ethical, motivated, and each one is personally committed to our mission to make Newport a safer place for all of us. We continue to use the talents of our staff to complete any number of tasks in the most economical manner possible. Each member of our department is involved in our budget process, and committed to being good stewards of taxpayers money.

     We often receive comments, both positive and negative, about why we do what we do. I encourage you to interact with our staff, contact us, or just stop by if you have questions or concerns. In order for us to accomplish our mission, we must all work together toward the same goals. That means the police working with the public, as well as the public working with the police. We have worked very hard over the past few years to upgrade our technology capabilities. This has enabled us to provide our officers with mobile computers with real time criminal information, allowing access to local, state, and federal data bases in the patrol vehicle. In addition to arming them with real time data, it has allowed them to remain in the field and in the patrol vehicle, much more visible in the community. This visibility also helps to serve as a crime prevention tool.

     We have obtained numerous local, state, and federal grants over the last 8 years totaling over $500,000.00. This has enabled us to provide the best possible police service, at the lowest possible cost to the general fund of the Town. The Town of Newport currently funds the police department at a rate of $142 per citizen, while the state average is $197, and the average among municipalities in the surrounding area is $378 per citizen according to the NC Department of State Treasurer as of May 2011.

     Our current staffing ratio is 2.1 officers per 1,000 citizens, and ranks near the bottom at 14th out of 15 when compared to the local agencies that surround us, while our population ranks 5th out of the those same 15 agencies. Our staffing ratio is less than 50% of the National Average, which stands at 4.7 officers per 1,000 citizens for municipal departments our size, according to the FBI Informational Services Division for South Atlantic States. Unfortunately our Part 1 crimes, criminal arrests, and personal property loss to our citizens is closer to the top of that ranking with those same 15 agencies. These crimes are obviously something we wish to reduce, and it is our belief that working together we can make a difference in Newport for all our citizens.

     We are always evaluating the way we perform police services in an effort to improve our service delivery. We use the SARA model for Problem-Orientated Policing. This model serves as a template for Scanning problems, taking Analysis, choosing a Response, and then conducting an Assessment to determine the effectiveness of the chosen response. A recent example of the success we have had using this model can be seen in the implementation of an Alarm Ordinance. In 2009 we responded to 225 alarms and expended 67.9 man hours responding and investigating those false alarms. Since the adoption of this ordinance by the Town Council we have seen a 60% reduction in false alarms. This has drastically reduced the misuse and abuse of police services for these events. It's issues like this that we are focused on in order to provide the best use of our resources for all citizens.

      I would submit to you, that over the past 8 years we have done exactly what is set out in our Mission Statement. I encourage you to become part of the solution to help us make Newport a place where people can live, work, and raise a family within a safe and caring community. I believe if you take a look around, you will see a professional, modern, and progressive law enforcement agency working hard toward the objectives in our mission statement. Please use our contact us page to reach us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Chief Clark