City holds meet-and-greet with two finalists
FERNDALE — The Ferndale community had an opportunity to meet and ask questions of the final two candidates for their next Chief of Police.
The candidates are Sean O’Laughlin and James Miyashiro. The selected candidate will replace Kevin Turner, who announced his retirement in October. Matt Huffman is serving as the police chief during the interim.
The candidates had an opportunity to tour the town before arriving for the community forum. During the forum the community was able to ask questions, which ranged from how to handle speed complaints to their thoughts on proactive versus reactive policing.
O’Laughlin is the deputy chief of police at Eastern Washington University. He first started his law enforcement journey at the University of Washington, where he had previously played football. He has served in a variety of law enforcement and military capacities over the years.
Having grown up in Kent and attended UW, he is a lifelong Washingtonian and said he hopes to make it back to western Washington.
O’Laughlin said he is a big believer in collaboration, teamwork and engaging with the community. He said it is important for the police department to be a part of the community and have that community's support. With community support comes less crime.
He said it is also important to strike a balance between proactive and reactive policing, as well as utilizing data to see if there is an area that needs some emphasis patrolling.
Ferndale has a growing population, but the department budget doesn’t increase proportionally.
O’Laughlin said he has experience writing grants and would use that experience to bring in added funds, positions, equipment or other needs of the department.
“There’s lots of ways you can work with that budget,” he said.
Another way to supplement the budget is to utilize non-governmental resources, such as partnerships with local nonprofits that can provide resources to the homeless population or other vulnerable populations in need.
O’Laughlin said if there is one thing the community takes from their interactions with, he hopes it is that he wants to make a difference and always tries to leave a place better than he found it.
“I’m a person that tries to make an impact wherever I’m at,” he said.
Miyashiro is the assistant vice president for public safety at the University of San Diego and has spent nearly four decades in law enforcement.
He said he is a very collaborative person and during his time at University of San Diego has worked to set up a variety of committees to work together with the community.
He said he is a large proponent of proactive policing.
“It’s important to stop things before they happen,” he said.
Similar to O’Laughlin, Miyashiro said he has experience with grant writing. He successfully worked with other entities to jointly write a grant for $10 million that was used to build a truancy center in Santa Ana, which is about 90 minutes north of San Diego in Orange County.
When it comes to working with the city’s homeless population, he said he wants to work with local organizations to help them get the resources that will best help them.
“We need to deal with them with empathy,” he said, adding that this scenario is a great opportunity for collaboration with local nonprofits and other organizations.
“I’m a strong believer that we can’t do anything alone,” Miyashiro said.
Mayor Greg Hansen said he is confident in both candidates.
“I’m feeling great that we have our next police chief,” he said.
A final decision has yet to be made, as there are still more rounds of interviews.
-- Contact Racquel Muncy at racquel@lyndentribune.com.
