'Bring pride back': New Deputy Chief Britton meets with Johnstown Police Advisory Board for first time
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – New Deputy Chief Mark Britton emphasized the importance of the Johnstown Police Department force being proactive and visible when he met Monday with the Johnstown Police Advisory Board for the first time.
He said JPD in recent years has tended to be reactive as it dealt with challenges, such as high turnover and being low staffed.
Part of his goal is to get officers into positions where they can be more involved in the community developing relationships. He wants to expand the K-9 unit, bring back the motorcycle officers and start holding the Coptoberfest party fundraiser again.
'I want our department to be out there to be seen a little more,' Britton said.
He added: 'I need to bring pride back to this department and be part of this community.'
Britton, who has been with the force since 2009, was sworn into the deputy chief position Feb. 7.
He explained the reason for the 'deputy chief' title, instead of 'chief.'
'They (city officials) plan on in the future, not sure when, to look at getting a public safety director to oversee the fire department and the police department,' Britton said. 'I'm not sure when that's going to be, if that's going to transpire.'
Deacon Jeffrey Wilson, the advisory board's president, told Britton that the organization's mission is to help develop a 'highly functioning department, state-of-the-art department, a department that's inclusive to all the people that are in the area.'
'We want you to know that the Johnstown Police Advisory Board is not an adversary to the department or to the city,' Wilson said during the meeting. 'Instead it was born out of cooperation with trying to make sure that there's great communication between the community and the department, but along with that to make suggestions as we go along based upon the information that we get from the community, so that we can help also in improving the situation in the city of Johnstown.'
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