[10/30/01]Vicksburg’s police chief told a civic group Monday the city will have a more balanced, service-oriented police department within six months.

“I will need your help if you want a department to be what it should be,” Chief Tommy Moffett told Exchange Club members. “I need your support.”

Moffett, former chief in Biloxi who retired after 29 years there, accepted the post here and took over Oct. 2.

His first month, he said, has been spent on what he called the department’s “mindset.” Once that is accomplished, he said citizens will see a dramatic change in the department within about six months.

“We really have not been service-oriented,” he said. “We have not been designed to provide the service we’re supposed to provide.”

Changing attitudes takes a while because, although there are good officers on the Vicksburg department, routines are set.

“I know how to run a police department,” he said. “I came from a department that was second-to-none in Mississippi and the Southeast. There is no doubt in my mind we can do the same thing right here in Vicksburg.”

When he came to Vicksburg, he said the department had 103 officers with 45 at the rank of sergeant and above.

“That’s almost one supervisor per person. I have never heard of that before,” he said.

Moffett said he plans to change that by determining who is working and who’s not. He warned that some people won’t like his changes and may complain vocally. That’s when he will need community backing, Moffett said.

Officers are being assigned specific beats to patrol every time they come to work and officers will be expected to get to know the people and businesses in their patrol areas.

“Traditionally, police officers like to ride around all over town. That’s fine if you don’t want to offer service,” he said.

Moffett also said he intends to set standards for how reports are to be written, how they are to be filed and how they are to be handled. There will also be a system of accountability that will run from the patrol officer to the sergeant, to the lieutenant, to the captain and above, he said.

Turnover at the top has been common for the Vicksburg Police Department with as many as six chiefs in the past 10 years. Under the city charter, chiefs are elected by the mayor and aldermen.