‘A great opportunity’: La Vergne police chief shares RNC deployment experience

LA VERGNE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The La Vergne Police Department (LPD) was one of several agencies from across the country that was asked by the City of Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) to help secure the site of the Republican National Convention (RNC) last week in Milwaukee, WI.

MPD’s request to LPD for more manpower came far before the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.

LPD chief Christopher Moews, Lt. David Durham, Lt. Eric Staats, Sgt. Bill Timson and patrol officer Kyler Cline participated in the deployment. Their roles varied from responding to protests, securing the venue, and escorting high-ranking officials.

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“It’s a great opportunity, and that’s one of the things that I’m trying to do here is offer my employees, my officers, opportunities to have a really unique and fulfilling career,” Moews said. “I want to make sure that the La Vergne reputation is stellar, no matter where you go, and I’m confident that my four officers that went up there to help did that over the course of that week.”

More than 2,000 law enforcement officers across the nation came out to assist MPD.

“We made sure that we were doing things very, very securely there,” Moews said. “We anticipated even more protests as a result of the officer-involved shooting that occurred up there, but thankfully that did not happen.”

Moews began his policing career in 1996 at MPD where he served until he started his new job as LPD’s chief in September 2023. At MPD, he started as a police officer and eventually worked his way up to the role of commanding officer of the Criminal Investigation Bureau – Violent Crimes Division. He said it was an honor to return to his old stomping grounds and for his team to be able to serve on a national stage.

“Anytime you’re part of a national security event, you glean some experience from that,” Moews said. “For them to go up there to meet with law enforcement officers from all over the country, to work with my home agency where I grew up in law enforcement, and to be a part of that security presence that is orchestrated by the U.S. Secret Service…it’s a great experience for them.”

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All expenses from the deployment – including meals, travel, and pay – are covered by the federal government.

Moews said he hopes to take on more opportunities like this with his department in the future.

“I’m open to any national security event as long as staffing permits, and it won’t be at an increased cost to the citizens of La Vergne,” Moews said. “I want to provide those experiences to my people as often as I possibly can.”

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