Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson swore in new police chief Ray Juengst Monday before introducing him to reporters at a City Hall press conference. The mayor planned to show him around the city the rest of the day.
Juengst says some of his first initiatives will include making sure the department is prioritizing officers’ health needs, especially mental health, as he did in St. Charles, Missouri. He rose to chief there after 30 years, starting as a 21-year-old patrol officer.
He talked about what drew him to Elkhart.
“It’s a community much like what I had in St. Charles," he said. "For me St. Charles was home and Elkhart, when I started looking around, it felt like home also. It’s similar in size, it’s similar in structure, the manpower in the department is the same. I’m a chief that when I chief, I want people to know who I am. I want them to feel like they’re able to communicate with me and come talk to me. I wasn’t looking to go to that department where you don’t know the people that work for you.”
Some reporters asked Juengst about his past in St. Charles. But I asked him how much he knows about the Elkhart department’s past, which has included some high-profile wrongful convictions of Black defendants that have drawn national news coverage and turned into some big lawsuits against the city.
“I’m aware of it," he said. "What I would ask of the community is give us a chance to move forward. Let us focus on the future and where we’re going, and what we’re going to do, and what we’re going to accomplish and not focus on the past so much.”
