Always ready to serve

Lewiston Police Chief Budd Hurd has spent his career living out the motto “protect and serve,” and he’s accomplished it by building relationships with his employees and the community.

With his retirement July 15 after 31½ years, it’ll be what he misses most about the job. “We call ourselves a family and we do it because we work so closely with each other in everything we do,” Hurd said about the police department, but he also has close ties with people in other city departments, the school district and neighboring law enforcement agencies. “I really feel like I’ve built a good relationship throughout the city. Those relationships I’ll cherish for a long time. I’ve worked with a lot of great people.”

As part of Hurd’s retirement, there will be a ceremony July 14 around 3 p.m. Capt. Jeff Klone expects a packed house because so many people in the community know Hurd, the event might even have to be moved outside. That’s also when dispatchers will have an end of service call on the police scanner to thank Hurd as he signs off for the last time.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with him,” Klone said. “We’re definitely going to miss him. He’s a good one.”

Klone has worked with Hurd his entire 16 years at the department and when the now chief was promoted to various positions, Klone wasn’t far behind, often taking over the role he left behind.

Klone said Hurd has created a better culture for the department and moved it in a positive direction. He’s been a good mentor, made good decisions and was someone employees could talk to about anything.

Hurd is also a fun person to work with and has a good sense of humor, something Klone experienced first-hand when the two were working graveyard shifts together. They would compete to find the first open door in a business or who would catch their first DUI of the night.

“You could sit around and have fun, but when it was time to work, it was time to work,” Klone said. “(Hurd) took his job seriously, but not too seriously.”

Even though the chief will be retiring, the department will continue to rely on him for institutional knowledge. “He’s been a fixture here for so long to not see him here every morning, that’ll be a big change,” Klone said.

Hurd began as a reserve officer in 1989, then started full time in November of 1990. During his career he’s worked as a patrol officer, school resource officer and detective and evidence custodian. He was then promoted from corporal to sergeant, then lieutenant, where he oversaw the investigation section of the department.

In 2018, when then-police Chief Chris Ankeny left, Hurd was asked to serve as interim chief by then-City Manager Alan Nygaard. He wasn’t planning on becoming police chief, but after seeing what the job entailed and receiving encouragement from people in the department and others in the community, “I felt like with that support, why not?”

The Lewiston City Council voted unanimously to appoint Hurd as police chief on Sept. 10, 2018.

When Hurd took over as chief, he wanted to restore morale at the department. At the time changes had been made that didn’t fit and relationships with other local agencies needed to be rebuilt. The department was also down at least six patrol officers and two dispatchers. Communication equipment needed updating and Hurd placed a priority on that as well.

After seeing the issues caused by changes made too quickly by his predecessor, Hurd advises whoever takes his position to get to know the department and take their time before implementing major steps. He also recommends getting to know community partners, whether it’s volunteer organizations, government departments, school districts, other city police departments, the FBI and Idaho State Police. Hurd said those relationships are key to working together.

However, the new police chief will also be faced with hiring problems in a different environment than what Hurd saw in 2018. Now the issue is a nationwide shortage of workers.

Some of the changes Hurd has seen in his career have come from the national attitude around policing. “There’s been a lot of political unrest between police and the citizens,” he said.

The police department has support in Lewiston and in Idaho, Hurd said, but the national conversation is changing and police need to adapt and be aware of how they are viewed by the public.

This national issue came to Lewiston when a Black Lives Matter rally and a Second Amendment rally were held on the same day.

“As police chief you have to look at these and you have to balance both sides,” Hurd said. “Because, as we all know, each side has a constitutional right to express their belief, it’s how they do it.”

When it’s done peacefully, there isn’t a problem, but Hurd pointed to the incident in Coeur d’Alene last weekend where 31 people were arrested for conspiracy to riot. “And those we can’t allow.”

It wasn’t the only national issue Hurd has faced in his nearly four years as police chief. He also contended with the COVID-19 pandemic. This created conflict when the city put in place a mask mandate and police officers were responsible for handling complaints. Hurd said the department took those calls as an opportunity to educate people about the mandate.

“We did not write any citations during that time but we did talk to a lot of businesses and a lot of people in regards to face coverings,” the chief said.

Even though the mask mandate was a heavily debated issue, people on both sides sent the department doughnuts, pizza, gift certificates and words of support.

“People … were coming in and recognizing that we were in a tough position,” Hurd said. “And I think that our relationship with the community is what helped us really get through some of those tough times.”

Since taking over as chief, Hurd has responded to families dealing with suicide, mental health issues, traffic accidents and homicides. Over the years, he also has seen more help for first responders and dispatchers dealing with mental health issues from the job.

He tries to provide opportunities for people to talk during debriefings.

“We’ve always kind of had to suppress those feelings, but we now know that we have to get our employees help and assistance,” Hurd said. “Because PTSD is a real thing, a lot of officers and even communications personnel, they succumb to those pressures.”

There are parts of the job that are difficult, but Hurd believes working with employees is the most rewarding. He enjoys making sure their work is recognized like at the yearly award ceremony. The pandemic changed the formal ceremony into a family event at the park, which received a positive response so there will be another event like it this year.

“Being able to just do what I can to help all the employees in their work and what they do gives me a lot of satisfaction,” he said.

And while Hurd enjoys his job, he is looking forward to retirement, though it won’t happen quite as soon as planned. “The county gave me a great going-away gift for July, they put me on jury duty for the month that I retired so I thank them for that,” Hurd said jokingly.

After that, he hopes to travel with his wife, who is also retired, visit family, including his nine grandchildren, and stay busy.

“I’m not one that’s going to want to sit in a rocker and watch TV all day, that’s not who I am.”

He wants to keep volunteering at the Rotary Club and with his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.

“As tough as things can get and be in this line of work, I can tell you that I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Yes, it’s had its ups and it’s had its downs, but overall (it’s) that old adage of protect and serve. The reason I wanted to be a cop was because I like serving people, I like doing the right thing and that still holds true today,” he said.

“It’s been a rewarding career and one that I’ll appreciate the rest of my life. I was given the chance to do something that I really wanted to do and I’ve enjoyed it.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.

With the strong mayor form of government now in place in Lewiston the hiring of a new police chief is slightly different than when current Police Chief Budd Hurd was appointed.

With the new process, Mayor Dan Johnson will nominate the next police chief and the City Council can confirm the nomination. If the City Council chooses not to confirm the candidate, Johnson has to submit a different person for consideration.

As of Friday, the final day to apply, there were 17 candidates for the position, both from within the department and from a nationwide search.

When the candidate field is narrowed, Johnson said there will be opportunities for the public as well as the city council to meet the candidates. If candidates are from outside the area Johnson also plans on doing a showcase of Lewiston to highlight what’s offered in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

Nikki Province, human resource director for the city, said Hurd’s retirement day is July 15 and it’s not likely they will have a decision on the new police chief by then. Johnson will then appoint an interim chief until the new chief is hired.

In 2018, Hurd was appointed by then-City Manager Alan Nygaard, first as interim chief, then after a recommendation from Nygaard, he received a unanimous vote from the city council to take over the position.