Lincoln University Police Department Chief Gary Hill said Friday his appointment to serve on the Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission will not change the roles he has in the Jefferson City community - but he does hope to use his time on the POST Commission to advocate for increased training for officers.
Hill, of Holts Summit, was appointed Friday by Gov. Mike Parson to serve on the POST Commission for a two-year term.
The POST Commission is tasked with ensuring Missourians "are provided with the best trained, most professional law enforcement officers," including by establishing the core curriculum, definitions, rules and regulations for law enforcement training, according to the commission's website.
Hill, LUPD's chief for three years, is a 2001 LU graduate and came to the department from 18 years with the Cole County Sheriff's Department.
He has also worked three jobs at once while being a single parent; been a corrections officer at the Missouri State Penitentiary; put himself through sheriff's academy at night; and run for Cole County sheriff in 2016, losing the Republican primary to current Sheriff John Wheeler.
Hill has also been a site coordinator for the Missouri Sheriffs' Association Training Academy; an adjunct instructor at LU; a Joint Terrorism Task Force Officer for the FBI; panel member of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association's Assessment Center; and a member of the FBI National Academy Associates, Missouri Police Chiefs Association, Missouri Task Force on Children's Justice and Jefferson City CrimeStoppers, according to a news release from Parson's office.
"Nothing changes for me," Hill said of what his appointment to the POST Commission means for his local roles and activities.
He'll still be LUPD's chief, and he'll still be active in the community.
"We work for the people, and we have to be able to listen to them," he said of why it's important to be involved. "You got to have your ear to the street."
With the POST Commission, Hill said, he hopes to have discussions about diversity and other issues in law enforcement, and he would like more training for law enforcement in de-escalation, diversity and officer safety.
The POST Commission is supposed to be made of 11 gubernatorial appointees, who must be Senate-approved.
However, three vacancies remain on the commission following Hill and Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak's appointments by Parson on Friday - one vacancy for another police chief, another for a sheriff, and a third for a peace officer at or below the rank of sergeant.
Three more members of the commission - public member Emanuel Cleaver III, of Lee's Summit; Springfield Police Department Chief Paul Williams; and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Edward Clark are also serving on expired terms, according to the commission's website.
The public member of the commission must be a registered voter at the time of appointment, cannot ever have been a member or spouse of a member of the profession being regulated, and cannot ever have had a financial conflict of interest.
Missouri House minority caucus floor leader state Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, and Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Chairman state Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, jointly released a letter to Parson on police accountability and reform June 8, following the widely protested death of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis under the knee of an white officer who has since been charged with murder.
The Missouri legislative leaders' letter included a call for Parson to "immediately make the necessary appointments to ensure the POST Commission is at full strength and consists of members of diverse backgrounds who are committed to a new era of reform and accountability."
Parson in October appointed Platte County Sheriff Mark Owen to the commission. Owen serves as chairperson of the commission.
Parson also in April 2019 appointed to the commission listed members Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Benjamin "Ben" Jones - who serves as the patrol's director of the Recruiting and Community Outreach Division at the agency's Jefferson City headquarters - and John Worden, of Columbia, who directs the University of Missouri Extension's Law Enforcement Training Institute.
Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, said the Senate must be in session for the Committee on Gubernatorial Appointments that he chairs to have a confirmation hearing on appointees.
Schatz said it's unlikely such a hearing would be held this summer or fall - short of a special legislative session or an extraordinary or extended session that runs concurrent with veto session.
A person can serve on a commission as an interim appointee in the meantime, however.