SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — In front of friends, family, and various law enforcement agencies from around Kern County, Interim Shafter Police Chief Randy Milligan was officially tabbed as the city's top cop.
- Milligan served as the Shafter Police Department's Interim Chief for over a year and took over the position following the resignation of Kevin Zimmermann in November.
- Milligan said his hope is to continue to build upon the department's reputation and continue to be involved in the community positively, mentioning Shafter Police's National Night Out event earlier this year.
- Milligan is a 26-year veteran of the department serving in every role available to a member of the Shafter Police Department prior to accepting his role as the Chief.
While the community has known for a while, Friday morning made it official. I’m Sam Hoyle, your shafter neighborhood reporter, as now Chief Randy Milligan took his oath of office to serve as the Chief of Police in Shafter.
Community members, elected officials, and law enforcement from all around Kern County in attendance to celebrate the day with the city of shafter and the shafter police department.
“I’m completely beside myself on, on all this. It's overwhelming,” said Milligan.
Milligan, a 26-year member of the department, started as an officer in Shafter rising through the ranks leading to Friday’s promotion.
A note that a few members of the Shafter City Council and staff made as they took turns congratulating Milligan on stage Friday, offering words of encouragement to their new chief and to the community about who has been serving as the city’s top cop for the last year as the interim chief.
And while the actual words differed for each speaker, the general message was clear: congratulations, please keep up the good work.
A sentiment that Milligan is excited to employ, pointing towards the department’s work to engage members of the community where the community is.
“I really just enjoy helping people. I enjoy coming to work every day. I couldn't tell you the last time I called in sick to work. I just love coming to work every day and just coming to work and putting the badge on and knowing that you can make a difference,” said Milligan. “We have great communication with our citizens now we work in partnership with them all the time. We just had a recent national night out, which you guys could have seen, that was a very big success. So one thing that I do enjoy working for Shafter is we have a very supportive city council and a very supportive community.”
Millligan steps into the role following the resignation of former police Chief Kevin Zimmermann in November, and said right now it's business as usual for the department as they work to increase staffing in advance of a new substation being built in the Gossamer Grove neighborhood.
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