“To Protect and to Serve” since 1822, the Winchester Police Department has served the community and protected our citizens.
Throughout all these years there have been many Chiefs of Police.
A new leader has now taken the position, as of February 1st.
Upon the retirement of Chief James Hall, Travis Thompson is now the Winchester Chief of Police.
The Police Department obviously protects our community but also takes our schools into special consideration. Students need to know that the police department is here to help.
“This couldn’t be more important because students need to know that the police are there to do good for them and to help them when they’re in a bad situation,” Chief Thompson says.
Keeping students safe is the number one priority for Clark County Public Schools and the Winchester Police Department combined.
“We’re going to work together to be able to train together and to do some live training drills and to be able to be on the same page should an incident occur in one of the schools,” Chief Thompson said.
Many officers who retired from the department now work to protect our schools, and this is a major benefit for our school district.
“It helps a lot because they’re familiar with what we do and how we do it, and they’re familiar with us in general,” Chief Thompson states.
Chief Thompson was raised in Lexington and graduated from Lexington Catholic High School.
He is now married to his wife, Cenchrea, and they have two children, Addison and Tucker. Chief Thompson began his career as a patrolman in Winchester in 2005.
Given the amount of chiefs who have been through the department, Thompson plans to add his own mark during his reign as Chief.
“My plans are to keep the department running smooth, to improve recruitment and retention and bring new quality officers on board,” Chief Thompson says.
Chief Thompson also has many goals, which include opening another department in our city.
“I would like to work with the Commission in the coming years to formulate a plan of action to adequately budget, locate available property and construct a new Police Department,” Chief Thompson said. “The Police Department will be actively seeking out grants to help fund this project.”
We as a community and student body of GRC are grateful for those who choose to answer the calling “To Protect and to Serve.” We hope we never have an incident where we need them, but we are confident that if the need ever arises, we are in the most capable hands with our amazing Winchester Police Department, now led by Chief Travis Thompson.
“I want students to know that police officers are just ordinary people with a difficult job of keeping the peace,” Chief Thompson said. “There is no reason to be scared of the police, we are here to help folks on their worst day.”
