Cedar City Police Officer Darin Adams named new police chief

Cedar City Police Officer Darin Adams was named the city's new police chief Friday.

Adams has been with the department for nearly 19 years.

He was selected for the position after current Police Chief Robert Allinson announced his plans to retire on June 30.

Adams was selected out of four in-house candidates following an interview last Tuesday, according to Cedar City Mayor Maile Wilson.

After promotion was approved during a special Cedar City Council meeting Friday, Adams thanked the council and Allinson for their support.

“I’ll do my very best to lead this department,” Adams said. “I’m grateful for the trust you have placed in me and I really appreciate Chief Allinson for his leadership and continued mentorship. He’s done such great things.”

The new chief was born and raised in Cedar City before moving to Arizona to study nursing at Mohave Community College.

He then worked for the Iron County ambulance service after attending paramedic school at Dixie State University.

After working for the ambulance service for 12 years, Adams decided it was time to try his hand in law enforcement, joining the Cedar City Police Department in 1997.

He’s since incorporated that focus on health and wellness into his mentality as a police officer. He plans to continue to emphasize the importance of officer wellness in his new role.

As an officer, Adams worked to develop a peer support program. A psychologist is also available to meet with the officers and perform a status assessment as needed.

“Our guys are facing some of the worst things humanity can throw at them,” Adams said. “Just by doing that (officer wellness programs) we can improve in our public service delivery.

The new chief already has a long to-do list ahead of him. He’s already planning to backfill positions, review departments and examine current policy.

But his top goal is to improve community engagement through Town Hall meetings and by studying responses from a recent community survey.

“We’ve had success in the past with the neighborhood issues,” Adams said. “We’ve engaged, gone in and been able to solve the problems within weeks.”

Adams will be sworn-in at the July 6 Cedar City Council meeting.

Follow reporter Bree Burkitt, @BreeBurkitt. Call her at 435-218-2241.

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