City of Goodman, MO selects third police chief in 1.5 years

GOODMAN, Mo. (KOAM) -- The city of Goodman's Board of Aldermen met Tuesday to discuss ongoing issues at the police department.

The town's police chief, Samuel Townsend, says he resigned from his position last week following a failed bid to become the McDonald County Sheriff.

Townsend took over as chief last year after the town's entire police force resigned following the election of mayor John Bunch, who resigned from his position in February.

Goodman's current mayor, Clay Sexson, and the rest of the city officials promoted assistant police chief Michael Akins to the position of chief.

Akins released the following statement:

"On behalf of the department and me, I look forward to working with our mayor and city council to protect and serve our community and to working together with the McDonald County Sheriff's Office and the other agencies of this county. My department will be based on integrity and transparency. Should anybody ever have a concern, l encourage them to reach out to me and allow me the opportunity to resolve the matter.

I grew up in the Goodman/Anderson area and consider Goodman to be my hometown. I have worked for the Goodman Police Department in the past and look forward to this new endeavor.

I am an Army veteran, with one deployment to Afghanistan in 2008-2009. I have been in law enforcement full-time since 2018 when I worked at the Barry County Sheriff's Office and came home to McDonald County at the end of 2018. I have worked full-time at the Pineville Police Department (the Marshal's office then), Anderson Police Department, and Southwest City Police Department. While at Southwest City, I became a K9 Handler for K9 Rocco in 2022. K9 Rocco has worked by my side since then. I have held a reserve commission with the other agencies in this County. While working with the Anderson Police Department, I was a member of the McDonald County SRT. Most recently, I worked for the Delaware County Sheriff's Office as a K9 Handler/Patrol Deputy. In my years in law enforcement, I have gotten to know a great group of officers, chiefs, and sheriffs from whom I will be able to draw and grow in this new position.

K9 Rocco will be the City of Goodman's first police K9. K9 Rocco is a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois that is trained in narcotics detection, apprehension, area search, article search, and tracking.

Since 2022, K9 Rocco and I have assisted several agencies in removing narcotics, locating dangerous people, and taking them into custody.

Neither I nor my officers will make further statements tonight regarding the transition. We respect the community's need for a smooth transition and are fully focused on the City of Goodman, the Goodman Police Department, and the exceptional citizens therein."

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