A Virginia man with more than 25 years experience in law enforcement has been named to lead the Durango Police Department.
Kamran Afzal, 50, said he is honored to have been selected out of five finalists for the job.
“I’m looking forward to being in Durango and working with the officers there to continue to have the first-class department that Durango has,” he said Thursday during a phone interview.
Afzal started his career with the U.S. Capitol Police in 1991 and joined the Arlington County Police Department in 1993, where he serves as a captain.
He has an undergraduate degree in economics from George Mason University and a graduate degree in public administration from Troy University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, and is a certified public manager. His first day on the job will be April 17, with a starting salary of $134,576.
The Durango City Council must approve Afzal’s appointment, as required by the city charter. The council is scheduled to vote on his appointment March 7.
Durango City Manager Ron LeBlanc, who selected Afzal for the job, said Afzal will be a good fit for the department and a good role model for younger officers.
“I was very impressed with his demeanor and how calm and professional he comes across,” LeBlanc said.
Afzal has dealt with some of the same issues that Durango experiences, including homelessness and public demonstrations. He also understands the value of crime analysis and using statistics to best determine how to deploy limited police resources, LaBlanc said.
Afzal was born in Karachi, Pakistan. His father served as a naval officer, so he moved around as a child. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1982 when he was 15, and grew up in northern Virginia, where he has lived for 35 years.
Part of Afzal’s duties in Arlington were to recruit officers, which is something departments nationwide struggle with, including Durango. He said it’s important for people considering the profession to understand police work is not like what’s seen on television.
“If you think that you’re going to be running call to call, one fight to another fight, this is the wrong profession for you,” he said. “If you’re looking for that adventurous start, do something else, not policing, because we need people who are very calm and collected.”
He seeks input from the newest generation entering the profession, and has learned new recruits don’t attend job fairs as much as browse the internet in search of jobs.
So, his department used YouTube to promote the agency and highlight its successes, he said.
He also advocates use of social media and “coffee with a cop” events to connect with the community.
Police departments must be transparent with the public, he said. If police don’t inform residents about why they’re doing things a certain way, other people will “fill in the blanks” and guide the message, he said.
Afzal said he’s not especially active on social media, but he said he plans to tap someone who can help him use those platforms.
“Those days are long gone that you can be encapsulated from the community,” he said.
Afzal has a wife of 21 years, a teenage daughter in high school and a 20-year-old son who attends community college. The entire family plans to move to Durango after wrapping up semesters and other commitments in Virginia, he said.
He replaces Jim Spratlen, who retired Sept. 30. The city hired Lynn Johnson, a retired police official from Arvada, to serve as interim police chief.
LeBlanc said he doesn’t expect Afzal to bring “radical changes,” but he said, “we’re in a period where we want to develop and strengthen our police leadership,” and he wants a succession plan that prepares officers to move up the ranks, including to chief of police once Afzal retires.
“Hopefully, he’ll be looking at what we do on a daily basis with a fresh set of eyes and can give us advice on how we conduct our city operations,” Le Blanc said.
He added: “We’ve pretty much put him under a microscope. ... What you see is what you get. There’s nothing about him that is hidden from view. He is as honest and open as you can get.”
shane@durangoherald.com
