City of Salem's new police chief starts Feb. 1

Associated Press

SALEM

The city is getting a new police chief next year.

Sgt. J.T. Panezott, a 23-year city police veteran who’s been waging a war against drugs for most of his career, takes over as the city’s top cop effective Feb. 1.

“I’m thrilled. I can’t wait. We’ve got a bunch of great guys, and I’m looking forward to working with them,” he said.

Panezott, 47, scored the highest on the chief’s promotion civil-service exam administered to determine who would replace Chief Bob Floor, who’s retiring effective Feb. 1. Lt. Dave Casto and Sgt. John Scheets also took the exam.

“I think the Salem Police Department is going to be left in very, very capable hands,” Floor said. “I’m optimistic for both J.T. and the police department going into the future.”

A Salem High School graduate, Panezott earned a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement administration from Youngstown State University in 1987 and went through the Salem Police Academy run by former Chief John Sommers in 1988.

When Sommers hired him as a patrolman for the Salem Police Department on July 19, 1989, he was asked what his goals were and one of those goals was to become police chief.

Coming from a narcotics crime-fighting background, he said drugs are the main cause of much crime.

This won’t be Panezott’s first experience as the leader of a department, however.

He was the first Salem officer assigned to the Columbiana County Drug Task Force when it was formed in January 1992 and served as its director from its inception until Oct. 1, 2000, when he was assigned to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration office in Boardman. He made sergeant on July 21, 1995.

“You work on your drug problem; you work on your crime problem,” he said.

Panezott said he wants to see someone moved into his full-time DEA position from the Salem Police Department and also a Salem officer full time with the DTF. He said a lot of people are coming to the Youngstown area from the suburbs to buy heroin and to support that habit, they have to steal.

He said he’ll have an open-door policy for the public, and he’s looking forward to seeing people he already knows in the community and meeting the residents he doesn’t know.

Panezott and his wife, Lisa, have two sons, 10-year-old Justin, and 7-year-old Braden.