Boardman selects a pro to run police department

Certainly no one could envy the Boardman Township Board of Trustees for the enormous challenge it faced in recent months in appointing a new police chief for the Mahoning Valley’s largest suburban community.

After all, the trustees’ appointee will have some mighty big shoes to fill in replacing Chief Jack Nichols, a 40-year veteran with the township police force who has accumulated an exemplary record of committed public service.

As longtime Township Trustee Brad Calhoun rightly put it during the search, “Jack Nichols was the gold standard. He was the template that we’re trying to fill.”

But after a thorough search and detailed vetting process, we believe trustees may have accomplished that daunting task in their unanimous decision last week to appoint Todd Werth to lead the approximately 65-member police department beginning in January 2018.

When measuring the township’s chief-in-waiting in terms of experience, community service and commitment to accountability and transparency, Werth stands tall.

The 20-year Boardman resident brings a wealth of diversified experience and professional prowess to his new post. The U.S. Army veteran has served as supervisory senior resident agent for the Youngstown office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There, he is responsible for leading and supervising the office, which covers Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

His work load there is voluminous: managing and overseeing sensitive investigations conducted on violent crimes, drugs, gangs, organized crime, public corruption, white-collar crime, domestic and international terrorism matters and other violations of federal, state and local laws.

In short, Werth knows his way around fighting virtually any crime imaginable that might flare up in the large urban township.

And despite his lifelong career serving the federal government, Werth has established himself as an active participant in the Boardman community where he has lived with his wife and children and has been active in civic affairs.

STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

He’s also no stranger to the Boardman PD and other law-enforcement agencies throughout the Valley and the region as he has led training programs for them in his many FBI-certified areas that include firearms and crisis management.

Werth also pledges to work solidly for all segments of the community, including commitments to better protect young people and the community’s growing senior-citizen population.

Commitment to community service quite sensibly was one of the major qualifications that trustees had required of their new hire.

Trustee Calhoun listed community engagement as his main concern for the new chief. We agree with that priority and feel confident that Werth will follow in Nichols’ footsteps by attending community forums, taking calls and emails from township residents and strengthening provenly effective community policing strategies.

Hand in hand with that engagement, of course, comes accountability and transparency to taxpayers who financially support all operations of the department. We’re confident, too, that Werth will make a seamless transition from federal investigative work – where a tighter lid often is placed on sharing information and findings – to local public service, where a much higher premium is placed on transparency and openness with the community and the local news media.

Toward those ends, we suggest that part of his training with the current police chief over the next six months should include a brushing up on the ins and outs of Ohio’s public-meetings and public-records statutes.

In that domain, Werth has a strong mentor in Nichols, whose reputation for openness with the public has been commendable.

Before Jan. 3, the newly appointed chief will have ample opportunities to shadow the veteran chief, a perk made possible by the foresightedness of trustees to initiate the search as early as possible.

Come January, we’re confident that Werth will be well prepared to begin his demanding tenure as law- enforcement chief of one of the Valley’s most vibrant and vital communities. We congratulate him and wish him success in his new post.