Wes Lovett started his duties last week as chief of the Eudora Police Department. He comes to Eudora after serving on the Prairie Village Police Department for 24 years, the last 10 as a captain.

The man newly charged with keeping Eudora safe said his family history drew him to public service.

“Both my grandfathers were firefighters,” Wes Lovett said Thursday from his office in the Eudora Public Safety Building, which retired chief Bill Edwards occupied until last month. “My dad is a retired fireman, but I’m scared of heights. It wasn’t the climbing up, but the climbing back down I didn’t like. That explains my going the police route.”

What Lovett found after graduating high school from Shawnee Mission North and earning a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University was a career in law enforcement. He started 24 years ago as a patrolman with the Prairie Village Police Department.

Lovett said he has had opportunities outside of law enforcement through the years, but has stayed in the profession because he thought he did his job well. Judging from his promotions, his superiors must have thought so, too. After serving on patrol, Lovett moved on to be a field training officer, school resource officer, detective and hostage negotiator. As a detective, he was a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Major Case Squad. He was promoted to corporal in 1998 and to sergeant in 2003, before being named supervisor of the department’s special investigations unit. Lovett was promoted to captain in 2007.

As a captain, Lovett rotated through as the head of the Prairie Village Police Department’s three divisions of patrol, investigations and staff services, in which he oversaw civilian functions such as dispatch and records.

“I think being a commander over three different divisions does allow you to gain a lot of experience in all phases in policing,” he said.

Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said the City Commission saw in Lovett someone who could maintain the standards set under Edwards, while adding fresh opportunities for staff development.

“I think with his resume, he will bring the same professionalism as Chief Edwards,” Reazin said. “Our hope is his past experiences will help expand the opportunities for our officers to grow. I think he’s a great fit for our community.”

Lovett said he was very selective about looking to move on from his career home of the past 20 years.

“Since I’ve been eligible for retirement the last four years, I have not applied anywhere besides here,” he said. “I live in western Shawnee, so I have been through Eudora many times. I like the size of the community. It appears there is going to be some growth in the future, too. To me, it’s the perfect size.”

One priority the new chief has is to get acquainted with his new community. That effort started Thursday when the chief helped serve the free lunch offered to children at the Eudora Township Library.

“My goal is to get to every business and meet as many people as I can,” he said.

Community outreach won’t end with early introductions, but will be a focus of his department, Lovett said. Much of that effort will mirror the Prairie Village department.

“One time a month, we would have two police officers go to elementary schools and eat lunch with the students,” he said. “That was an idea we developed because most of the time the kids see the D.A.R.E. officers and D.A.R.E. officers only, and not other police officers. I think they develop a trust once they get to know regular police officers.”

Coffee with a Cop and Cookie with a Cop are other Prairie Village meet-the-public programs that could be emulated in Eudora, Lovett said.

“We did things in Prairie Village to reach out and develop a great relationship with a community,” he said. “I think citizens, when speaking to them in a setting outside of the police department, that they are more comfortable, and they may share an issue with you, whether it’s a speeder on their street or a neighbor they have concerns about. People tend to open up quite a bit at those events.”

Lovett said he has already met Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern and is looking forward to meeting fellow police chiefs within the county, as well as District Attorney Charles Branson. Coming from a city that borders another state and four different cities, he said he understands the importance of strong relationships with neighboring departments, noting that “when you have that many neighbors, you end up relying on them quite a bit.”

Prairie Village has a population of about 22,500, compared to Eudora’s population of 6,500. His old department had 47 police officers, detectives and other sworn personnel on the force during the rare occasions it was fully staffed, Lovett said, compared to 13 in Eudora. Departments of all sizes share the challenge of retaining good officers and finding qualified recruits to replace those who move on, he said.

While on vacation in Colorado the week before he started in Eudora, Lovett had to place the issue at the top of his to-do list when he learned one of the department’s officers was resigning to take a job with another city.

“One of the biggest priorities we have is to try and get all the positions filled,” he said. “It really impacts you the most when there are just this few police officers.”

His goal is to create an environment that promotes the retention of officers, Lovett said. That is needed to address the challenge of recruiting officers from a shrinking talent pool in competition with other departments, he said.

“When I applied at Prairie Village, there were 250 people who applied with me,” he said. “The last hiring board I was on with Prairie Village, we had 18 people apply.”

A final priority will be finding a home in the Eudora school district as the city requires. Lovett, his wife, Angie, and three daughters will move to Eudora within the next year, he said. The eldest daughter will be a junior and would probably continue at Mill Valley High School. His younger twin daughters excel in volleyball and are enrolling at St. James Academy, where their club coach is employed, he said.