Palmer Lake gets new police chief - again

PALMER LAKE • For the fourth time in almost as many years, the town has a new police chief.

Kieth Moreland, former big-city cop, was sworn in last week, as Palmer Lake Police Chief.

Moreland served 30 years as a Los Angeles patrolman, sergeant and crisis negotiator. It’s doubtful he’ll need many of the skills he acquired in L.A. to enforce the law in this quaint village of some 2,500 people.

That’s part of the appeal for the 53-year-old family man.

“It’s a change from the area I used to patrol that was a little more than 8-square-miles with over 300,000 people in it,” Moreland said.

“I’ve yanked people who threatened to jump off of four-story buildings. I’m glad to be somewhere where the tallest building is two stories."

Moreland moved from the LA-area to rural Colorado in 2007 for the “nice people and less crowded roads.” He hired on 18 months ago as a Monument officer.

“We’re usually the farm team for Monument, but this time we got one from them,” Palmer Lake Mayor John Cressman said. “We are excited about the new guy.”

Cressman said Moreland was chosen from the field of 11 candidates for his “experience and leadership.”

The post has been vacant since Gene Ferrin resigned last February after being placed on administrative leave eight months into the job. No explanation was ever given for the action, despite the severance package of more than $11,000 he was given.

Ferrin had replaced a police chief who committed suicide. Before him, Palmer Lake lost a chief 11 days after he was hired when charges of evidence tampering came to light.

The turnover follows the 2006 retirement of Dale Smith after 31 years with the department. This was in the aftermath of that notorious poker raid by police that gave the town a lot of attention.

Moreland said his salary is “somewhere around $50,000 a year.”

He promises no surprises about his own past. In fact, he is candid about his recovery from alcoholism.

“I have been sober for 25 years,” he said. “My life was not that bad, but it was bad enough for me.”

Moreland hopes to hire two officers to fill the openings on the force of four full-time officers.

“We are surviving through the use of part-time officers,” he said.

Otherwise, he doesn’t plan to make any immediate changes.

“I want to get a feel for this place, to evaluate it,” he said. “I don’t want to be the new broom that walks in and starts sweeping clean.”

He does, however, plan to spruce up the station.
“The working conditions are sad,” he said. “The place hasn’t been painted in years.”

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Call the writer at 636-0253.