Kenai Police Chief Gus Sandahl announced he is retiring after serving on the city’s force for over 20 years during this week’s city council meeting.
Council Members Terry Bookey, Tim Navarre, and Mayor Pat Porter all thanked him and reflected on how long they’ve known him at Tuesday’s meeting…
Cm. Bookey: “I remember Gus in Kenai Elementary but that’s going way back there, but he’s always been an outstanding person.”
Cm. Navarre: “I’ve known his father and his mother for a long time, my sisters had crushes on Gus when he was going to school so I’ve covered it all.”
Mayor Porter: “I can remember when my granddaughters did everything they could to have you stop them in the car when they were driving home from high school.”
Chief Sandahl interned at the Kenai Police Department in 1994 and officially joined in 1995. He became Chief of Police in 2008.
He says a highlight of his career is that the department has reached a ten year low for juvenile arrests which he believes is evidence that community outreach and teen programs are working.
Chief Sandahl: “Helping to keep the community safe and that’s not just police officers driving around on patrol, that’s one aspect of it but also providing the crime prevention education to the community. So much of that responsibility for this department falls on our School Resource Officer and our other officer who teaches DARE to students, we have two officers doing that but also through programs like Neighborhood Watch and good interactions with the media when they’re asking about statistics so that we can keep the public informed about the things that we’re facing.”
Chief Sandahl says he is retiring for family reasons, moving out of state, and will seek a job outside of law enforcement.
The new Chief of Police will be Kenai Lieutenant David Ross.
The swearing in ceremony will take place in Council Chambers on Tuesday, May 31, at 2:00PM.
