Yazoo City's Board of Aldermen made an excellent choice in hiring Jay Winstead to serve as chief of police.
Mayor Diane Delaware cast the sole vote against hiring Winstead, but I believe she will also soon be singing his praises if he continues the course he has been on since being named interim chief.
Let's face it, Mr. Winstead is taking on a significant challenge.
The position of Yazoo City police chief has seemed like a revolving door at times with five chiefs serving in the past decade. The department has struggled with staffing, thanks in part to the fact that law enforcement officers with a successful track record don't have to look far to find higher paying jobs with a federal prison in Yazoo.
Yazoo City seems to have growing problems with fewer resources available to combat those problems.
If you talk to most of our recent former police chiefs, they're not exactly nostalgic about the job.
The truth is that the only way we were going to get an ideal candidate was by finding someone who had the talent to do the job despite the challenges.
But how do you find someone with that kind of experience and ability who is willing to serve despite the obvious challenges and the fact that they could make more money elsewhere?
The only way that's going to happen is if you find someone who loves this community so much that the opportunity to help improve it means much more to them than the obstacles in the way.
I believe Yazoo found that person in Jay Winstead.
Our experience working with Mr. Winstead has been nothing but positive. He is always forthcoming, whether the news is good or bad. That is sometimes a rare quality in police chiefs because they are understandably concerned about appeasing the politicians who have the power to replace them.
He has also made a great effort to let the community get to know the officers that serve them. In my 20-year career as a journalist, I've never seen a police chief so determined to make sure that the officers get so much credit for the hard work they do. In my opinion that is commendable because it's giving credit where it's due. It's also important to let local residents get to know our police officers, especially young people.
That's the kind of guy Jay Winstead is, and that's why he has been embraced by people from all walks of life in our community. He's been serving here long enough that most people know him.
I believe Yazoo City has found the right man for a very difficult job. Let's all get behind Jay Winstead and support him and his department.
