Central Patrol invited community members in to meet its new division commander, Major Shawn Wadle, yesterday. He greeted new community acquaintances and caught up with folks he’s known in his previous work, including Margaret May of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood.
Don’t expect any major changes at Central Patrol right away, says the new Kansas City Police division commander.
Major Shawn Wadle greeted old and new acquaintances at an open house at Central Patrol yesterday. Having recently taken the reins as commander for the district that covers most of Midtown, Wadle says he’ll make some changes eventually, but for the most part he thinks things are going pretty well.
“I have no intention of making any overt changes right away. Instead, I’ll sit back and watch for a while,” he says.
Wadle says his major focus will be on reducing violent crime and crime overall. He says he doesn’t have all the answers on how to do that, but he will rely on his officers and the community to give him suggestions.
The new commander has returned to Central Patrol for the third time in his career, so many faces at the meet and greet were not strangers to him. He says he’s pleased, however, that relationships between the officers and the community have improved since he was last here in the 1990s.
“I thought relations were good the last time I was here, but now the relationships are so much more open. A lot of the credit for that has to go to Major Stewart.”
Major Wayne Stewart, the previous commander of Central Patrol, is now commander of the Regional Police Academy.
Wadle says he’s been going to community meetings and making sure people know he wants to hear community concerns. He says he may not personally call or email them, but someone will follow up if they contact him.
“I plan to be extremely accessible,” he says.
Contact Major Wadle:
- s.wadle@kcpd.org
- 816-759-6320
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