The recipient of the KACP 2023 Chief of the Year award goes to Chief David “Bryan” Taylor of the City of Lawrenceburg Police Department.
The Chief we honor today has been in law enforcement for 27 years, he has had ongoing training and certification through Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training, the FBI, as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency, just to mention a few. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and is currently studying for his master’s degree.
He is a warrior for his fellow officers. He personally instituted the Educating Heroes program, at his department, at no cost to the employees resulting in more than half of our current officers now having a higher education degree from an accredited college, all thanks to the Chief’s guidance and encouragement.
He was able to procure a cruiser donation from our City to the Jenkins Police Department after flooding in the summer of 2022 took out their entire fleet. He also sent an officer to assist in clean-up efforts after a tornado wiped out over 2,000 homes and businesses and claimed seventy-four lives in western Kentucky in the fall of 2022.
He has attained the Advanced Kentucky Law Enforcement Investigator and the Kentucky Law Enforcement Chief Executive certification through the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council Career Development Program.
He is very personal and direct with every part of his duties, almost to a fault. During his tenure here as, Chief he personally forged our efforts to become a state accredited agency through the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, earning us bragging rights as one (1) of only 13 cities during that year to obtain a 100% score on the agencies Safety and Liability Review audit conducted by the Kentucky League of Cities.
The Chief is extremely committed to building relations between our community and law enforcement. Just a few examples of his diligent efforts include:
- He created. “Cops & Cuts” to help local kids get professional haircuts in preparation for the new school year at no charge.
- He helps facilitate an annual softball game between local law enforcement officers and recovering addicts through members of our local “Survivor Squad” branch.
- He personally facilitates and leads our ‘Cops for Kids’ program every year where local underprivileged kids get to shop with a uniformed officer for Christmas.
- He personally assisted in raising over $100,000 for community programs.
- He works at all local festivals personally and requires upper staff members to appear regularly as well.
- He personally delivers hot meals to one of his elderly shut-in neighbors every week because she will not open her door for any other person.
He personally designed and assisted as the general contracted for 7,000 square foot building addition and remodel to the Police Department, including new construction of a sally port and holding cells. He completely overhauled our entire internal filing for safe keeping converting to fire safe and additional storage for archives.
He is one of the most admiral, honest and humble human beings there is. He is a profound leader, teacher, visionary and humanitarian, and he is widely respected across the state of Kentucky.
Many other prominent members of our community joined in nominating the Chief for this honor.
It is my honor to present “KACP 2023 Chief of the Year” to Chief David “Bryan” Taylor of the City of Lawrenceburg Police Department.