HOPE, Ark. (KTAL/KMSS) – Kimberly Tomlin made history as the first female police chief in the Hope Police Department.
“The goal is never just to get to patrol Lieutenant and stop, so I always had my eye on the big office,” Tomlin said.
Tomlin served the department for 28 years, starting her career as a police officer and working her way through the ranks.
“To be able to lead my teammates, the other officers here at the police department and kind of have a part in leading my community and so I’m just super excited to be here and to be doing that and I work with a great bunch of people, they know their jobs, they do it well.”
Tomlin served as assistant chief for 12 years before her appointment to the top job after Police Chief J.R. Wilson turned in his badge to serve as Hope’s city manager.
“I think that you can look forward to the same excellent service that you’ve been getting, the citizens of Hope deserve the very best,” Tomlin said. “Our purpose is to provide excellence to our community, to be at service to them and so that’s what my vision and my goal is just to be or be close to our community, to hear what they’re saying and protect their rights.
Tomlin said she hopes her new role will inspire others.
“When you have little girls always say, they’ll say she’s a police officer, and they’re kind of like excited about that and I say yes little girls can be police officers and we want more girls, we want Spanish-speaking police officers, we’re always looking for our minority groups to step up and come and be a part of our team too.”
