Police chief: I haven’t regretted a minute
Newark Division of Police Chief Steven Sarver only planned to be here for five years.
Five years became seven, but that’s as long as Sarver is going to stay.
The chief will walk out the door March 6 after retiring from the Newark force, leaving behind a nearly 431/2-year career in law enforcement that began right out of high school in Cincinnati. Sarver worked for three years as a cadet, earning his associate degree in the process and starting at the police academy in 1974.
He retired from Cincinnati in 2000 after completing the department’s first five-year strategic plan. From there, he became chief in the village of Amelia, a suburb of Cincinnati, and moved to Colerain Township in 2001.
In six years there, Sarver grew the department by 10 officers before deciding to move more than 130 miles northeast.
He said when he and his wife of 28 years, Rebecca, moved to Newark, they thought the city was a safe place, a belief they still harbor.
“It has crime like everybody else does, but I wouldn’t be afraid to walk down the street at 2 o’clock in the morning in downtown Newark for fear that somebody is going to jump out of the bushes and try to rob me,” Sarver said.
Community relations
Sarver said he hopes he has made a difference in the communities in which he has worked and that the department has built a better relationship with the community under his tenure.
Since he has been in Newark, Sarver oversaw the development of the Citizens Police Academy, which gives residents an inside look at what being a police officer is like. The program has had seven installations, and an alumni group has been founded.
Some of those alumni are involved in the Citizens on Patrol program, driving through the city in a repurposed police vehicle to look for criminal activity and hazards several days a week.
While the police department has faced some challenges during Sarver’s tenure, he said he hopes the number of officers can rebound from the current 69 to near the 81 officers patrolling in 2010.
Sarver also worked to get the department’s Neighborhood Impact Unit back on the street after a year hiatus that resulted from budget concerns.
Police education
Another of Sarver’s contributions to the Newark Division of Police is the focus he has placed on continuing officer education.
Sarver helped develop a course through the Southern Police Institute on how to be a successful police chief, which he now participates in five times a year across the United States.
He has encouraged the police captains in Newark to attend leadership courses and put themselves in positions to become chief.
Dave Arndt, officer coordinator for the police union, said before Sarver’s tenure, captains had not really done secondary law enforcement education.
Those courses have allowed the four captains in the department to be in a position where one will be named as Sarver’s successor, at least for the interim.
Legacy
Sarver said he feels a part of his legacy will be determined by how the department proceeds after he is gone. Having four captains who want to be police chief and have prepared themselves for the role is a large part of that.
“It’s a great feeling when I walk out this door that somebody is there to replace me and he came from inside,” he said.
Safety Director Bill Spurgeon and Mayor Jeff Hall agreed with Sarver.
“His greatest legacy, without a doubt, is that he has prepared the four captains to take his place,” Spurgeon said. “I just wish we had four chief jobs to offer.”
What’s next?
Sarver said he plans to stay retired once he leaves the Newark Division of Police building for the last time, but he will still find ways to keep busy.
Sarver said he intends to spend more time with his three granddaughters and grandson. He also hopes to continue with some police work. He said he will continue to participate with the leadership training and programs he works with and may do some consulting for police departments.
Sarver said he also intends to follow what is going on in Newark and hopes to stay in touch with the department.
The hardest part of retiring, he said, will be waking up March 9 without a job to go to. It is a feeling Sarver hasn’t experienced in nearly 45 years.
“It’s been a good seven years, and I’ve got some good memories I will take with me,” he said. “I won’t regret leaving. You regret not seeing the people. Every day, you get to see the people, and on March 9, I won’t have that opportunity.”
He and his wife, Rebecca, plan to move back to the Cincinnati area after their Newark home is sold. Rebecca is also working on a Ph.D. that should be completed in the coming months.
No successor for Sarver had been named when The Advocate went to press.
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Twitter: @bethany_bruner