My name is Harold Robinson and I am a candidate for Police Chief of Minden, Louisiana. My family and I have lived here in Minden since 1991 when I moved here to join the Minden Police Department. We moved here from Waco, Texas where I was a patrol officer and a follow-up investigator. While there I was fortunate to work cases with then assistant U.S. attorney Bill Johnston and deputy U.S. marshals Mike and Parnell McNamara.
I have three sons. Christopher, Jason, and Jonathan. Christopher graduated from Minden High in 2002 as class valedictorian. He then graduated from Abilene Christian University and now lives in Numazu, Japan where he works for Fujitsu Corporation and preaches at a local church. Jason graduated Minden High in 2005, attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. and is now serving his second tour of duty in Iraq as a member of the La. Army National Guard. Jonathan finished Minden High in 2009 and Lives in Minden.
Before Waco, I served in the U. S. Air Force as a security specialist and was a part of the security detail for Air Force One under President Jimmy Carter. I also had many other duties involving protection and transport of priority assets.
After leaving the Minden Police Department I started Troubleshooters Security and Investigations in Minden, providing security for local businesses here and around the northern Louisiana area. My company provided jobs for many local citizens. I currently work for the Minden Housing Authority providing security for its housing properties.
As Minden Police Chief, I will bring a fresh prospective to the office; respecting the authority and organization of past years but always working toward improvement. I love this city and its people and have worked to make it better since coming here. I will help the Minden Police Department strengthen its reputation and its professionalism. Minden has very good police officers and I will give them the tools they need to be even better. I will get them more training in crime scene investigation and in protecting Minden from real world threats like terrorism and sexual predators and get the equipment they need to go along with these skills. And I'll still have them concentrate on problems like drivers speeding through our neighborhoods threatening the safety of our children at play. I'll work to get new patrol vehicles and equip them with computers so that officers can run checks on suspicious person and vehicles themselves. This will also allow them to write their reports in the field. I want officers to have assigned vehicle so they can take those vehicles home to be visible in their neighborhoods. There are federal funds available for cities and police departments to help pay for these improvements and I will work to get those funds.
I will have more emphasis on community policing. I believe it takes a combined effort of law enforcement personnel and citizens working together to truly keep our communities, our city safe. I want the citizens of Minden to be more familiar with the officers who are patrolling their neighborhood; to know who they are and call them by name. I believe this will build more cooperation from the community.
With proper planning, good organizational skills and prayer, I believe all these goals are possible for our community
