Eudora ? The most serious crime problem awaiting Eudora’s new police chief is that people are crazy drivers, one resident says.

“It’s just getting terrible,” said John May, 72, while dining recently at Annabelle’s Restaurant, 202 E. 10th St. “I think 80 percent of these people need to go back to driver’s school or at least study the laws.”

Other Eudorans say vandalism or problems with “wayward youths” are among the more critical issues facing new Chief Greg Dahlem, who took over the department about three weeks ago when Bill Long retired.

But the good news for Dahlem is that some members of his citizenry can’t think of any problems.

“There’s not very much stuff that goes on here in town,” said Jodie Christopherson, who sat at the restaurant’s counter smoking a cigarette.

“I can’t really think of one thing in particular,” said Shari Mott, who was waiting to pick up her daughters at Nottingham Elementary School, 15th and Elm streets.

Dahlem, a 15-year veteran of the department and a rabid Kansas City Chiefs fan, has lived in Eudora all but three years of his life. He knows the town well enough that he regularly encounters the children of his childhood friends while on patrol.

“I’ve gotten to be familiar with a lot of people,” said Dahlem, 43, who’s married with three elementary-age foster children.

He knows the town isn’t really as quiet as some people perceive. He said his officers regularly dealt with domestic disturbances, thefts and other crimes.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges awaiting Dahlem will be keeping up with the city’s rapid growth. Eudora’s population is roughly 6,300 now, up from 3,000 in 1990.

“My long-term goal is to try to get more officers on the street,” Dahlem said.

Greg Dahlem has been the Eudora police chief for about three weeks. He says his long-term goal is to get more officers on staff to meet the needs of the city's rapid growth.

Now, the department has eight full-time officers and two part-timers.

Dahlem said he also hoped to eventually have an entire fleet of old-style, black-and-white patrol cars instead of the navy blue cars his officers now drive. The black-and-white cars have a more authentic police look, he said.

He wants all Eudora officers to carry the same make and model gun, which they don’t now. He also plans to scour different grant opportunities and find about $40,000 needed to update the cars’ mobile data systems.

He also wants people to view his officers as professionals who know what they’re doing.

“You have to make sure everybody’s Mirandized now,” he said, in reference to the legal rights of an arrested person. “Make sure you don’t try to coerce them into anything. The consent-to-search thing is a big issue right now.”

Dahlem said he could see himself as chief for 15 to 20 more years.

So far, so good, said City Administrator Michael Yanez, who has offered to give Dahlem management advice.

“He’s been in his position for 10 days, and he hasn’t had a management crisis yet,” Yanez said last week. “I have a real positive outlook on his career. I think he has a good head on his shoulders. He has been identified as the local expert on law enforcement, and I challenge him to run his department and run it well.”