Queen Creek’s first police chief shares vision of community engagement
Jul 14, 2020, 4:35 AM | Updated: 7:39 am
Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice. (Town of Queen Creek Photo)
(Town of Queen Creek Photo)
PHOENIX — The town of Queen Creek is forming its own police department and recently hired its first police chief.
Randy Brice will head the newly formed Queen Creek Police Department starting July 20. He said his vision for the department is focused on engaging with the community.
“Really what it comes down to is we want to be a full-service police department that is connected with the community,” Brice told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “We really need the community to be part of what we do from the very beginning.”
He added the community will in a sense help “co-produce law enforcement.”
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Brice has nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience in Arizona. He started out with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in 1992 as a detention officer before becoming a deputy sheriff.
Over the years he moved up the ranks and held several leadership positions. He left MCSO and joined the Gilbert Police Department as a commander in 2016. He also served as the interim chief of police and is currently the assistant chief of police for the department’s investigation-support bureau.
His hiring comes after weeks of protest across the country and in Arizona demanding actions to end police brutality.
“It’s all about communication and transparency, in my mind, and so what’s going on in the nation right now is really helping us to have that conversation,” he said.
Brice said one way to demonstrate transparency is by having those who live and work in Queen Creek help guide policies and procedures for the new police department.
He’s also open to proposals like forming a civilian review board to oversee the actions of police officers and the department.
“Those things are definitely going to be looked at by the management and by the council and the team to make sure that, again, what we’re really focusing on is developing that trust and legitimacy, but also making sure that all of our actions are transparent,” he said.
Over the next few months, Brice will help identify staff and establish operations. In the meantime, MCSO will continue to be the contracted law enforcement provider for Queen Creek.
Fully implementing the Queen Creek Police Department is anticipated to require about 18 months.
