New Arlington Police Chief Meets with Citizens for First Time, Expresses Eagerness to Engage with Community
By Tim Ciesco, Arlington Police Department
Posted on January 27, 2021, January 27, 2021

Chief Jones Meets with Citizen

When new Arlington Police Chief Al Jones made the move from Maryland to North Texas, he thought he was leaving the snow behind.

“Sure enough, my first weekend down here, it snowed,” Jones laughed. “I brought the snow with me.”

What he also brings with him to Arlington is more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, having served with the Baltimore County Police Department for more than two decades -- most recently overseeing that department’s Community Relations Bureau.

He wasted no time making it clear that community relations will be a central tenet of his tenure as Police Chief during a public event the City hosted on Monday to welcome him.

“I’m a servant leader, a relational policing guy,” said Jones. “I want to be able to get in the community and interact with the community. I think it’s very important to hear what they have to say as opposed to us just going out and saying how we’re going to police them.”

Jones also expressed his eagerness to get to know the officers and employees of the department.

“I believe that we have a fantastic police department,” said Jones. “And I want to make sure that I’m supporting them in every way I can so they can go out and do their jobs effectively.”

After some brief remarks by Jones, City Manager Trey Yelverton, and Mayor Jeff Williams, the new chief spent the bulk of the welcome event speaking individually to community members who attended.

Yelverton says it was those interpersonal skills that helped convince him Jones was the right person for the job.

“I want him to ultimately be a successful chief,” said Yelverton. “And a successful chief is going to be someone who is supported and well thought of by the persons that they’re serving, that will help our employees grow and step into new roles. It’s someone who’s going to be successful in helping define the future of policing and where do we need to be as an organization, not only with our staff, but as a community. I believe Chief Jones will be able to do that.”

Jones says just two weeks into the job, Arlington is already feeling like home.

“I’m truly excited,” said Jones. “I can’t wait to get really acclimated with the city and being able to engage the community. I think once we get out of this COVID situation and get back to some normalcy, it will be great to get out and interact with the community instead of using Zoom. It’s hard to build relationships with the community through Zoom.”

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