110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - 110° Magazine - July 2007 - Through the gates of Hell - Index

“the place we oughta be
Brentwood was my first choice. The
Brentwood job opened up before I could
complete the process with the other
two agencies. Since it was my first
choice anyway, I withdrew my name
from the other two and here I am.
CHIEF EVENSON,
BRENTWOOD PD
I feel like I’m the new coach for a team
that just won the Super Bowl. Mike
Davies did a great job during his years
at the helm of the department!
The job has been wonderful so far!
The department, city, and community
have graciously welcomed me with
open arms. I’ve set about the happy
task of making a good agency even
better. My theme for the next few years
will be to deliver the best possible
police services to the community.
The department staff accepted me in
part because Mike did such a wonderful
job preparing them for me. It felt
good having Mike’s acceptance and his
belief that I would be a good fit. He’s
been super-gracious and has mentored
me in the position.
The civic leaders wanted someone to
set up procedures that could aid our
growing Brentwood police department.
They wanted someone who could bring
access to new technologies plus a bigdepartment
perspective to the job.
Now we’ve finished a strategic plan.
We’re organizing the department to
provide better service to citizens by
putting more officers on the street
and giving them time to do even
better enforcement.
We’re also working on improving
communication between the department
and the community. I want to
get our officers out of their cars onto
the sidewalks and visiting with residents.
We’re improving face-to-face
time of officers and citizens.
We’re also trying to become more
transparent than in the past. We’re
becoming better at sharing with the
community about what we are doing
and following up on complaints. We’re
improving website access in order to
make it easier for people to get to us
and installing new software to enable
citizens to file minor complaints online.
Technology is a big priority. We’re
improving the Crime Analysis Unit.
Soon we will be able to enter occurrences
into a computer program that
will generate a Crime Trend Analysis so
we can make wiser choices about
deploying resources.
Traffic safety is always a priority.
We’re increasing traffic staff and
implementing a Traffic Safety Plan for
the city.
And it’s a life in which my childhood
dream has come true. I’ve spent three
decades as a cop on a mission of bringing
law, order, calm, and stability into
the lives of the people I’m serving.
Now that I’m the Brentwood Top Cop,
my life of living in the service of others
just keeps getting better. °
Mark Evenson
Age: 50
Occupation:
Chief of Police
Place of Birth:
Santa Monica
Local Residence:
Brentwood
Life Goal:
To Win American Idol
July 2007 www.110mag.com 19