When he was running for his city's top office, Thaddeus Kirkland made it pretty clear that he was not a fan of the way things were being run by the Chester Police Department.
He had harsh words for both then-Mayor John Linder and his top cop, Joe Bail. In Kirkland's view, they were out of touch with the community, leading to a distrust of the department out on the streets.
It was one of the things Kirkland vowed to change.
It didn't take him long after taking office to do just that. He put Darren Alston back into the spot he once held - before being demoted by Linder - as police commission.
He also vowed that the department would be more transparent, and have better interactions with the community.
The city took a big step in that direction yesterday when it was announced that the federal Department of Justice would undertake a thorough review of the city department.
The review was instigated by several police-involved shootings that had draw questions and criticism from the community.
Alston asked the DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services - known as COPS - to perform a comprehensive review of the department.
They will specifically concentrate on five areas: police-involved shootings; community policing and trust-building; training and employee development; data collection; and crime analysis.
One thing became increasingly clear at yesterday's press conference.
This is not going to some some kind of cursory, insider look at the department. These are outsiders who age going to poke around, identify deficiencies, and suggest changes.
That's a good thing.
You can get all the details here.
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