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Home > Blogs > West Chester News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 03 > Entry
Father would be proud of ‘Big E’
Despite an office that remains bare and a to-do list as long as he is tall, West Chester Twp.’s new Police Chief Erik Niehaus carved out some time for me this morning to chat.
Here’s the resulting story.
By Dave Greber Staff Writer
It’s planning that’s put Erik Niehaus where he finds himself today.
But it’s the things for which he couldn’t plan that will likely keep him moving toward the future.
Niehaus was sworn in as the new West Chester Twp. Chief of Police Tuesday, Dec. 2, resoundingly accepted by family, friends, township officials and dozens of officers he must now guide.
He replaces former Police Chief Col. John Bruce, who turned in his resignation Dec. 1 to make way for the 37-year-old local husband and father of two.
Trustees said it was Niehaus that impressed them over two other internal candidates because of the ideas he presented during the six-month interview process. Budgets and organizational charts in hand — and ways to alter their effectiveness in mind — Niehaus showed trustees his vision. They agreed.
His employees did, too.
“I think our officers are happy to be at this point in time,” said Sgt. Mike Quinn, president of the West Chester Fraternal Order of Police. “The big discussion has been to put everything in the past and move forward. And he’s got all kinds of plans.”
Put it this way: It’s the same mentality that roused the new chief from his slumber Wednesday about 12 hours after he was appointed. He was ready to punch out a few e-mails, clock in early, start planning for the future of the department.
“And then I remembered I had to take my daughter to school,” Niehaus said, laughing at his own eagerness.
Niehaus isn’t positioning for sweeping changes in the WCPD. “Just tweaks,” he said.
His first task will be improving communication in the ranks. To ease the transition, he said he will ask each member of the force what they like and dislike about the department and what they would change.
“I know that my own ideas aren’t always the best,” he said. “From day one I want to open those lines of communication.”
That’s inside his halls, and outside on the sidewalks.
“The police department is invested in this community, and I want people to know that,” he said.
Niehaus is also a former pitcher. And throughout his career on the mound — from little league to scholarship athlete at Ball State University — he came to understand his skills were better used for location and control. His demeanor is more finesse pitcher than heavy-handed flame thrower; curves and corners over the high heat, setting up the next batter.
He wanted to graduate on time in order to attend the police academy — then law school — so he traded in the rosen bag for an accounting book before his senior season.
“I’ve wanted this for a long time,” he said.
The big-picture mentality comes from his father, Niehaus said, tears quickly welling his eyes narrow as the one thing never planned — the sudden death of his father, Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus — once again filled his mind.
“I think about all the good things about my dad and all the good he did for the community and I think it’s helped me focus on what’s important in life,” Erik said.
Erik has thought often of his father these past few days: Like how the chair David Niehaus used for decades now graces his son’s otherwise bare office; like when David told Erik in July — when the township’s chief search began — he was appointed judge at age 37; and like the physical vacancy that was apparent Tuesday as Erik was sworn in as police chief.
“I looked at it like he was there,” Erik said about the ceremony this week. “The only difference was that I didn’t get to hear the words come out of his mouth.”
Words like: “Big E, good job,” Erik said mimicking his father. “It was always Big E.”
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