Six months, multiple candidates and a few controversies later, Montgomery County finally has a new police chief-and it’s a familiar face. Marcus Jones has been the acting chief since June; Jones has been serving as the interim chief since June in the wake of former Chief J. Thomas Manger’s retirement earlier this year.
Marcus Jones, a 34-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department, was formally sworn in as the County’s new police chief on Nov. 8, in ceremonies at Gaithersburg High School. County Executive Marc Elrich, who nominated him as chief in October, was among those at the ceremonies.
Council President Nancy Navarro said Jones has worked in the department for 34 years, including leading a number of teams focused on major crimes, drug enforcement and investigative services.
“Jones is a police chief who has pledged to earn the trust of our community members,” Navarro said in a statement. “He knows our diverse community inside and out and is committed to implementing the changes necessary to ensure that our residents are treated equally. Jones is acutely aware of the challenges that lie ahead, and he will do the hard work that is required to shape the future of our police force.”
Jones said within the first 30 days he has to make promotions.”I have to get my senior executive staff in place,” Jones said. “I have three open assistant chiefs’ positions that need to be filled as well as some senior executives.” The chief also talked about the heightened focus on community policing and how he would like an external audit to be done on the department, the expansion of de-escalation training, the potential of arming more officers with tasers and racial profiling.
“I am personally offended by any law enforcement officer, and particular here in Montgomery county, that would police on a style to racially profile any citizen in this county,” Jones said. “I will not tolerate it with my officers. I will take a strong stance to address it and to eliminate it. We will ensure through constant training and re-enforcement that profiling is not acceptable.”
In 2011, Chief Jones received the “Montgomery’s Best Award” for directing the Damascus Gardens Drug Market Initiative to eliminate an open-air drug market. He has a business administration degree from the University of Maryland and has attended the FBI National Academy.
Article by Dhruv Pai of Montgomery Blair High School
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons