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Description
Since he started June 1, West Chicago Police Chief Stephen Kuhn has been like a sponge, soaking up the city's sights and its people's perspectives.
With more than three decades at all levels of law enforcement - starting as a Chicago cop and chief of Allentown, Pennsylvania's third largest city - West Chicago leaders believe they have the best person for the job out of the more than 80 who applied.
Kuhn got his start in the Chicago Police Department and eventually rose to the rank of supervisor.
He has trained officers in El Salvador and Albania for the federal government and speaks Spanish fluently.
His contract runs through June 2009, concurrent with Mayor Michael Fortner's term.
The 61-year-old chief sat down with Daily Herald staff writer Harry Hitzeman to talk communication, culture and the Cubs.
Q. You've been in West Chicago and getting acclimated with the city, what are your impressions and observations so far?
A. I've got three really positive impressions. The first is I'm impressed with the people in the community itself. I'm impressed with the businesspeople, the businesspeople I've met. They seem to be very in tune with what they consider the needs of the community are and very positive and proactive in helping the community.
Such as the Touch a Truck demonstration we had (June 4). The amount of trucks that were there and the number of businesspeople who turned out was a heartening thing for me. That's important for the community.
The second thing is, and these are not in the order of importance, the professionalism at city hall.
The different department heads, from the mayor and the city manager, throughout the city is very efficient and very professional. It's refreshing. It's really a nice adjunct to my work to be able to work with all these city managers, and I'll tell you why. Community policing in its purest form involves the cooperation of all the different city agencies to meet the needs of the people.... |
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