DeKalb’s new police chief said he is ready to earn the trust of the residents by rebuilding the police department.
“I’m looking forward to working here,” Chris Phelps said. “It’s going to be a challenge because there’s a lot of rebuilding to do with the community because the community right now doesn’t trust us. And understandably so … I don’t blame them.”
“But we have a lot of rebuilding to do and hopefully through interacting with them and letting them see that we’re trying to do the right thing, we can rebuild that trust,” he added.Phelps took office as the chief of the DeKalb Police Department on August 1.
He was hired to fill the role following the departure of Chris Atkinson in June.
Phelps said the first change he has made in the department is the culture about traffic stops and ticketing.
“That shouldn’t be our sole focus,” Phelps said. “There are people, good people, who don’t know you as an officer … I want them to be involved in the community, not just out here writing tickets because that’s not what our sole job is.”
Phelps said his primary goal with the department is to create a more professional and positive atmosphere.
And that biggest change in professionalism, he said, is how they speak.
“I don’t want them to just be rude to somebody just to be rude to somebody. I usually would tell my guys when I worked in Texarkathe na, ‘Would you want somebody talking to your mama that way? Would you want somebody talking to your wife that way? Or any other family member that you care about? No, you wouldn’t,’” he said.
He has also instated a policy of checking on businesses after hours to ensure their safety and security.
He said he also wants to reinstate a more traditional uniform and remove the tactical look of the current patrol uniforms.
Phelps came to DeKalb from the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department, where he spent 25 years in various capacities. His roles included patrol, criminal investigations and training officer before taking over as the patrol division sergeant in 2021. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2006.
But his decision to enter law enforcement started much earlier while working at a Walmart in Clarksville, Texas.
A 1992 graduate of Avery High School, Phelps said realized his initial interest in accounting was not where he wanted to spend the rest of his life.
But the husband of one of his coworkers at the Clarksville Walmart had a job that interested him, he said.
“Her husband was a trooper. I thought, ‘You know what man? That’d be a pretty cool job.’ So I decided I wanted to go to the academy and did some research,” Phelps said.
He entered into academy training through Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant at night and began working at the Red River County Jail during the day. He graduated from the academy in 1995 and decided to activate his commission in 1996 as a deputy with the Red River County Sheriff’s Office.
While in the academy, Phelps met the woman who would eventually become his wife of 27 years, Claudia.
Claudia Phelps works for Texarkana, Arkansas, Police Department as the hiring standards officer for the department. Previously, she worked as a canine officer and on the drug task force as an undercover officer.
She began working as a dispatch officer when the pair were thinking of trying to start a family, but that wasn’t in the cards for the couple, Phelps said.
Claudia returned to police work and began her 20 year career with TAPD.
“I always tell her she’s had a better career than I have. Her’s is more interesting,” Phelps said.
The couple spend their time together traveling around the country vacationing and riding their Harley Davidson motorcycle. These pastimes, Phelps said, may take a smaller role in their lives as he navigates the waters of his new role.
“Being a sergeant, while you’re responsible for a handful of people … you’re responsible for making sure their calls go right and knowing how to call. Here I am the ‘who’ to call,” Phelps said. “I’m responsible for the same amount of people, but I’m also responsible for the administrative side.”
“You know, after 19 years as a sergeant, I know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two. I can refer back to my experience as a supervisor dealing with how to’s fairly easy. But on the other side is, how do you do a budget?” he added.
