Kent Barker

Kent Barker Chief of Police Tualatin, Oregon, Police Department Candidate for IACP Vice President at Large

am honored and excited to be a candidate for the offi ce of vice president at large for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

I have been an active member of this prestigious association since 1998 and still remember the fi rst annual IACP conference I attended in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was a newly promoted captain at the time, and I was given the opportunity by Chief Marc Adams of Keizer, Oregon, to begin my international experience of training and networking with law enforcement leaders from all over the world. What an awesome experience it was then and continues to be in my career today as a chief of police for the city of Tualatin, Oregon.

To give you a quick glance at my career, I have more than 30 years of law enforcement experience in Oregon, including two years with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office; more than 19 years with the Keizer Police Department; and coming up on 9 years as the chief of police for the Tualatin Police Department, comprising 38 sworn officers and serving a population of more than 26,000.

I have a bachelor’s degree in management and communication from Western Baptist College (now Corban University), and I am a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Oregon Executive Development Institute.

I have been the chairman of the Washington County Law Enforcement Council, am a past president of the Tualatin Rotary Club and the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, and was named Business Person of the Year in 2006 by the Tualatin Chamber of Commerce. I am currently the chair of the Police Policy Committee for the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and was recently appointed by the state governor as the chairman for the Board of Public Safety Standards and Training.

I have served on the IACP Executive Committee and am currently the general chair for the IACP Division of State Associations of Chiefs of Police (SACOP). As the general chair, I serve on the IACP Board of Officers and Executive Committee.

During the past four years, I have actively served and participated with several IACP advisory groups addressing the following programs, projects, and initiatives:

• The National Center for the Prevention of Violence Against the Police
• Reducing Officer Injuries
• The IACP Center for Social Media
• Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims
• Alzheimer’s Initiatives
• The SACOP SafeShield Project
• The IACP Small Agency Section

Last year, I was selected to be on the search committee to recruit and hire a new executive director for the IACP in an effort to select a successor for Dan Rosenblatt, who had recently retired. I am proud to say that I participated in that process and was involved with the selection of current Executive Director Bart Johnson.

As the general chair of SACOP, I feel that I was an active ambassador for smaller and local law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The staff at the IACP has done an outstanding job to be responsive to our needs and to promote a professional image for the SACOP Division. We received additional funding with the many projects our division has oversight of, our bylaws have been updated, and our SafeShield committee members grow in number and in popularity as other members of IACP experience the positive results relating to officer safety issues and reducing officer injuries.

As we approach our 119th Annual IACP Conference in San Diego, California, I will conclude my two-year term as the General Chair for SACOP. Chief Peter Carnes of Stonehill Campus Police and Safety in Easton, Massachusetts, will be replacing me and will be a great representative for SACOP.

The IACP staff and board members have seen my passion and have witnessed that I am not a silent member of the board. I will listen carefully to what is being presented and speak up in a tactful manner but with passion when it comes to local law enforcement and smaller agency issues. I want to continue to be a voice for local law enforcement and smaller agencies even after my term expires as the SACOP general chair. I value the traditions that our association has established since 1893, but I also understand that we need to move ahead with more modern technology and transform our association into one of which every law enforcement executive throughout the world would want to be a part.

If elected as the vice president at large, I will continue to promote and maintain a positive and professional image in my efforts to support the IACP president and incoming presidents and their initiatives during my three-year term. I will be an active listener to our membership and promote positive and progressive changes within our association. I am hoping I can count on you to support me in this effort. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming annual conference in San Diego. ♦

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