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Snowflake-Taylor Police Chief Bobby Martin has hit the ground running in his new roll as police chief and is looking forward to working with the community.
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Martin, who has been featured in a number of the department’s videos in the past, will soon be presenting a “Connect with a Cop” series on the police department’s Facebook page where citizens can potentially have their questions featured and answered in a future Facebook video.
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Chief Martin will also be giving tips and various info about how to keep the community a safe and well-informed place. The videos will be airing a few times a month depending on the amount of participation that is received from the community. The goal of the series is to build community relations and make the police department more transparent to the community.
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“We’re really open to any kind of questions as long as they’re not derogatory or defamatory in any way, shape, or form. Questions like ‘Why do cops do this in this situation?’ and ‘Why do they do that in that situation?’ and ‘What’s the law surrounding this event?’ things like that. We’ll answer anything that we can, as best we can, we want people to know what we know. If you don’t want to find a police officer or if you don’t want to come to the office, a lot of people find it easier to make a comment on Facebook. It just makes it that much easier,” stated Chief Martin, adding that although there will be things that Chief Martin cannot discuss during investigations, he aims to be an open book with the public as much as possible.
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Regarding other current projects of the police department he stated, “Right now, we’re doing a couple different things, we’re still working on the consolidation on the dispatch center up in Show Low to be a part of their location out there.”
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He also noted that the department has had some changes in personnel. “We have three recruits at the academy right now in Taylor. Once those three graduate from the academy we’ll be fully staffed for the first time since 2009, so we’re really looking forward to that. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them, so we’re excited for them to come back and show us what they’ve learned.”
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Chief Martin also likes to teach at the police academy when time allows. “I teach out at the academy when I get the opportunity and I try to stress to young recruits and new officers that, when opportunities come up, you take them. You don’t worry about whether you’re prepared or think you’re going to do a good job or not,” Chief Martin advised. “Nothing prepares you more for taking a test, even if you fail, you’re one step ahead of everyone else the next time you take it. I’ve always taken that stance and I’ve just been lucky enough to end up getting those positions every time I put in for them. Especially being interim chief at eight years, that was not on my to-do list,” Chief Martin laughed.
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“But, being in this position now is a great opportunity. I enjoy it, I enjoy the leadership ability of being able to be in this type of role to influence a larger group of people, not just within the police department but help that influence within the town as well and put together those connections with the community members and make those connections within the community a little bit stronger.”
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Chief Martin also gave insight on the steps that led to him becoming chief of police of Snowflake-Taylor and a little bit of a history on his journey from the time he became an officer to where he is now.
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“I became a police officer in 2007 and graduated from Carlotta Academy in Casa Grande in December of 2007. Before I went, I was a dispatcher for about three months before going to the academy. When I got back out of the academy, I was a patrol officer, I went through field training and did all that for about two and a half years. I kind of got to what they call a ‘burnout stage’ at around the two year mark and started looking for something new to do and a detective’s position opened up so I took the detective’s exam and was given the position in July of 2010.
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“I did that for about a year and a half and I had always had this little inkling or desire to be a part of the drug task force. Most new cops want to get into that kind of field and that was what I wanted to do,” said Martin. After testing for a position, he was assigned to MCAT (Major Crimes Apprehension Team) in 2012 and remained in that position for almost three years. In 2014 he tested and earned the position as the investigation division’s sergeant.
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“Most of my law enforcement career has been spent in investigations in one way, shape or another. I became the detective sergeant in October of 2014. In May of 2015, Chief Van Winkle at the time retired and they promoted me and made me Interim Chief of Police in 2015 until we found Chief Scarber who I just replaced. He came in in September of 2015, so I went back to being the investigations division’s sergeant, started taking on more responsibilities until March of 2016 when Chief Scarber promoted me to lieutenant and I held that position up until July of this year.”
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Chief Martin wants to leave the community with this message: “One thing I always try to tell people is ‘phones down, eyes up, and buckle up’.” Chief Martin asks the community to be aware of the increased traffic from parents taking children to school and teenage drivers, as well.
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“There are a lot of kids on the road, a lot of teenagers driving on the road. Our school time is our busiest time and that is when our crashes really go through the roof.
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“The amount of traffic that is now on the roadways in the middle of the day during the weekdays is astronomical compared to just coming off the summer time when there is nobody on the road, with parents driving their kids to and from school and activities, and kids driving to and from school and activities. It’s just important that everybody take it upon themselves to put their seatbelts on and put their phones down because distraction is probably the number one cause of our crashes.”
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To learn more about the department and take part in Connect with a Cop, visit the Snowflake-Taylor Police Department Facebook page.
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