WRAL News on Monday talked with Apex’s new police chief, Ryan Johansen, who began his new role on Feb. 3.
Q: We're coming up on a couple of weeks. How does it feel?
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A: It's a little bit like drinking from a fire hose, but it feels good. It feels like I belong. It feels like my assessment of the fit that might have existed here between what the department needs and what I deliver was accurate and I think I'm where I belong but it will take quite a while to get truly acclimated.
Q: What kind of things are you looking to implement in this new role?
A: Certainly there are, or I wouldn't be in the position I'm in. I'm acutely aware of the fact that I am in an information-gathering phase. I have a tremendous amount to learn. I've come from all the way across the country. I have been a chief for the better part of five years, but not here. So I'm very much in the mode of trying to learn about this place, this department, this community and what the needs are.
Q: Are there certain things that you want to see the department make an initiative?
A: I have a niche, it's probably in officer wellness. I have a theory that the best way to provide superior police services out in the community is to take better care of cops, deploy happy, healthy, well-adjusted humans on as regular a basis as possible. Most of the initiatives I come in the door with will be focused on creating that type of environment.
Q: Are there specific things that you want to implement when it comes to officer wellness?
A: I think that a comprehensive wellness program that's real, not just a checkbox, is really what it's all about, looking at cops as humans. I love cops, but we're not actually that special. We're humans, like everyone else. We're just being asked to do a very, very difficult job and providing them with the tools they need to be at their best as often as possible so that those interactions out in the community go well is very important ... and removing the barriers and the stigmas to regular counseling and therapy.
I also have found mindfulness to be really important in this space. Everything a cop does occurs in the present moment -- period -- and we need to get cops where we are responding more and reacting less.
Q: A viewer wrote in concerned about high-speed chases in and around the city. How do you plan to handle those chases, and in what situations should a chase actually happen?
A: This is not a challenge unique to Apex ... what we're seeing increase isn't so much high-speed chases and pursuits as it is the tendency to flee from the police. What has changed a lot in the last several years in policing is the willingness to run for what are seemingly minor offenses, including running in a vehicle. It begs the constant analysis and question of when will we chase, when will we not chase, when is it justified?
We have to constantly weigh the importance of apprehending the suspect against the danger that that pursuit is posing to the public, regardless of what the offense or the reason is. And this means we need cops to be able to think critically in the present moment about what they're doing [and] why they're doing it...
What we want to stay away from is chasing cars with the only hope being that eventually they're going to crash and we're going to catch them ... We will be looking at the pursuit policy pretty thoroughly here to ensure that it's clear to cops when they can and can't or should and shouldn't be engaging in a vehicle pursuit.
Q: As somebody who's coming in new, what do you want the citizens of Apex to know about you and what you plan to implement?
A: I think that what I want the citizens of Apex to know mostly is that I'm transparent. I'm going to be very forthcoming with what our philosophies are as an organization and where we're trying to go. And those philosophies will always reflect the messaging we're receiving from the community as to what it expects from its police department.
I'm also very transparent as to my belief system, which again is that I think we need to take better care of police officers.
When I say I love cops I mean that I love good cops, and I truly do. Bad cops we have no place for. They're a genuine danger to society and to the department and won't be tolerated. But I hope the community will know that what I'm going to focus on is trying to take a developmental approach to our police officers [and] create a safe space for them where they know that they are supported to go do their job ... that they have people of rank that understand how difficult the job is and it will show them some grace as they're out there trying to do it effectively.
Q: There is a shortage of police officers across the industry. How do you plan to recruit and retain officers?
A: In short, culture. I think that culture has to be the focal point. What I found in my previous position as chief was that as we created a healthy, happy, productive culture, just like any good company would aim to do, the recruitment and retention kind of takes care of itself. The best possible recruitment is to have the people who work here now out there telling other cops that this is a better place to work. And that's what we're going to strive to create.
Q: Is there anything else that you want to add?
A: Just to say that I am exceedingly grateful to be here. You had mentioned that maybe there's a value to having a fresh perspective. In the meditative world, we would call that beginner's mind. I think I come with a beginner's mind. No one is more committed to learning about this community and this department and its needs than I am, and I feel exceedingly fortunate to have been given this opportunity and very committed to not let the community or the department down.