Retiring Perry Police Chief Eric Vaughn addressed the Perry Lions Club at the club’s September meeting.
Vaughn joined the Perry Police Department in 1997. He was promoted to detective in August 1999 and assistant police chief in May 2004, and he became the city’s Chief of Police in 2014, and he is now just a few weeks from retirement.
He and his family moved to Ankeny over the summer, where Vaughn’s wife teaches at the DMACC campus there.
The Chief said he has no immediate plans for future work at this time. He said that he just wants to relax for a while.
Vaughn gave a brief breakdown of the police department’s budget and demonstrated some of the new equipment the officers are using, including new protective vests. The vests are designed to carry the equipment the officers need instead of having it on their belt.
When fully equipped, the vest weighs about 25 pounds, Vaughn said, but the weight is on their backs and not on their hips, which allows the officers more mobility. The new vests are also designed to stop a rifle bullet, but the older ones could not.
Vaughn also noted the department’s new riot gear, such as helmets, body shields and batons. He said the riot equipment is in a locker at the police station, and he hope it stays there and is not needed to quell any civil unrest.
New electronic speed detection trailers are also part of the police department’s new gear, acquired through a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Vaughn said the speed trailers remind drivers to slow down.
He said the Perry PD will soon be getting a drone to use with a heat-sensor camera. He said that many of these new items came from special grants, private donations and the federal government.
Vaughn said the two things that he is most proud of accomplishing during his 10-year tenure as the department’s leader are the new body cameras that the officers currently use and the special training that the officers have received to deescalate a situation, especially when a person is in a mental crisis.
Vaughn said his relations with the Perry City Council, Perry City Administrator and Perry Mayor were always very cordial and that they strongly support the mission of the Perry Police Department.
In other club business, Perry Lions Club President Trisha Smith was presented with a certificate of appreciation from Club Vice President John Andorf and a small gift for her service to the club as president.
Ray Harden is secretary of the Perry Lions Club.
