The city of Aberdeen has narrowed its search for a new police chief down to two final candidates: current Aberdeen Lieutenant Kevin Darst, and Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Steve Shumate.

There will be an open forum Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen where the public can ask questions and provide feedback on both potential chiefs.

The public comments will be reviewed by Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson before he ultimately decides who he wants to choose as chief. The choice needs City Council approval.

Larson said the decision will likely be made at the City Council’s May 23 meeting.

The field was narrowed two weeks ago by Larson and a panel of department heads and some council members.

Darst and Shumate spoke to The Daily World about what areas they’d like to focus on should they be chosen. Police chief Bob Torgerson retired about a year ago and since then, Deputy Chief Dave Timmons has served as acting chief. Timmons is expected to retire soon.

Here are some of the takeaways from the interviews with Darst and Shumate.

Lt. Kevin Darst

Darst has been an officer in Aberdeen for more than 25 years. He said his primary goal is to reduce crime proactively. He wants the department to not have such an imbalance of officers and staff weighted too heavily on paperwork and being on the phone.

“A lot of times when we’re reactive, people will get away with a crime, maybe 20, 30 times before we figure out who they are,” said Darst, “whereas a proactive team would, hopefully, catch them after the first half-dozen, and stop future crimes.”

Part of Darst’s plan is to get more foot and bike patrol officers in the downtown area. Darst said his three years as a bicycle patrol officer made him realize how effective that method was for staying on top of crimes and what’s going on in the city.

“I felt like being on a bicycle and being downtown where I stopped and talked with businesses was way more interactive,” he said.

He also would like to add a community services officer who would interact with citizens and business owners downtown.

Another aspect both Darst and Shumate said they wanted to hone in on was improving employee morale. A few years back, there was a vote of “no confidence” for Torgerson. Darst said the department’s employees are excited about moving into a new era for the department and hiring a new chief, and he believes bringing in someone new with a vision will assist with improving any morale issues still lingering.

“We have a department of very dedicated and committed officers and staff who want to have a vision to work toward,” said Darst. “I think giving them that vision, I think you’ll see morale increase substantially.”

Deputy Steve Shumate

Shumate said he had planned on running for sheriff when current Grays Harbor Sheriff Rick Scott retired from the position, but with Scott seeking another term he decided to seek the Aberdeen spot.

After 29 years at the Sheriff’s Office, Shumate said he felt like he was at a crossroads and that only a position like the chief of Aberdeen could draw him away from the county position. At his deputy position, Shumate currently manages 42 staff members, which he said was similar in scope to the Aberdeen Police Department.

Over the last four months, Shumate has been evaluating the police department, and said he’s interviewed 25 percent of the staff so far, along with local residents and business owners about the job the department has done.

To improve the department’s service to citizens, Shumate said improving employee morale would go a long way toward doing that.

“If you improve the morale within the employees of the organization, that’s how you improve customer service,” he said.

With regard to the homelessness issue, Shumate said he’s spoken with various business owners downtown who complained about homeless people sleeping and causing issues with business. Shumate said he would want the department to focus on keeping the downtown area safe, which he said correlates with improving the city’s local economy.

“We need to do what we can as a police department to have a safe and crime-free business district, because they are the lifeline to our economy,” Shumate said.

One of the main focuses for Shumate is to improve community engagement. In the past four years, Shumate has helped create 13 neighborhood block-watch groups with the Sheriff’s Office, which he said assisted the county department with having a feel for what sorts of crimes are going on.