New Shawnee police chief plans to use more technology
Sep. 30—SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Robert Kohli has always wanted to be a police officer.
From visits to his schools in the Shawnee district, to television shows that featured law enforcement, Kohli said he was always "led down the path" to serve his community. That is why he has been in law enforcement since 2002 when he became a patrol officer, before being promoted to sergeant in 2012. On Tuesday, he was sworn in as chief.
Kohli said that at first, he was unsure if he wanted to try for the position of chief after Michael Keith's retirement, but after some thought, he decided that he needed to go for it.
"I've seen the quality of employee (in the department) and the standard of service that's expected not only by our community but by other members of this department," Kohli said. "When you have the opportunity to have somebody else possibly step in — maybe even from the outside — and maybe change what we are accustomed to and what myself as a township resident would expect as the level of service, I felt like I needed to protect that and ensure that it stayed as what it was."
But Kohli said not everything is going to stay the same under his leadership.
Kohli has already begun the process of introducing technology into the police vehicles and he and others within the department are evaluating the benefits of an e-citation system, rather than one of pen to paper.
"[It will] allow them to have a safer interaction on the road stops and have more availability of paying attention to a possible threat or danger that if they were writing on a piece of paper they would miss," Kohli said.
Trustee Clark Spieles, who voted for Kohli's appointment, said this affinity for technology is what set him apart from the other applicant for the position. He said Kohli is always looking for ways to use technology to improve the way in which the department polices.
Spieles said he also likes Kohli's community interactions and commitment to helping other communities in their policing efforts.
Kohli is an Ohio Department of Public Safety coordinator and has traveled the country to teach prosecutors, judges and police about drug pharmacology and physiology to particularly help officers evaluate people who are under the influence of drugs. Kohli said he mainly travels across Ohio for these sessions and uses his vacation time to perform them.
While he will have less time to teach as chief, Kohli said he plans to maintain his role as coordinator and direct resources to where they need to go.
"I was obviously very passionate about OVI enforcement through my career, and it saves lives," Kohli said. "When you do this job for any length of time and you see what that offense can do to families and do to people especially when it results in a death — if that doesn't give you a fire to prevent it from happening anymore, nothing will."
Kohli said he has an "open-door policy" for anyone in the community who wants to speak about their concerns or what changes they'd like the department to make.
This kind of policy is what makes Kohli "a real community person," Spieles said, adding, "He's really a diamond in our department."
Reach Jessica Orozco at 564-242-0398 or on Twitter @JessicaCOrozco.
