Here & Now

Shon Barnes Takes Over as Madison’s Police Chief

Frederica Freyberg:

The city of Madison swore in a new chief of police Monday. Shon Barnes takes the helm of the department after the former chief Mike Koval announced his immediate departure more than a year ago. The new chief says he is energized about the position and takes over during what he calls historically challenging times.

Shon Barnes:

You think about 2020. We’re still in the middle of a global pandemic. We still have American citizens and community members and visitors who are in our country dying every day from this virus that we’re trying to get a handle on. Officers still have to go out and keep our community safe, do community engagement and prevent crime in the middle of all that. In addition, we’re now seeing police officers do things every day on social media that make us scratch our heads or that even shock our conscience. I think the incident in Minnesota, it shocked everyone’s conscience. There were police officers who were just as upset about that as community members. So it’s an unprecedented time in our country. Added to that, almost this national sentiment of division. And so I think it’s time — I think the country is ready to move forward with that. This is one of the reasons why I’m energized about this position. The country is ready to move forward together as a country. I think we have seen that when our division isn’t healthy, it doesn’t benefit anyone. And so the same thing can be said about every police department and every community member. I think our community members — you know, they don’t want to protest just as much as officers, you know, don’t want to have to manage protests. They don’t want to protest. They want to live in a community where they don’t have to. And that’s difficult considering the global landscape of policing.