Twenty-seven years after he began as a Vancouver patrol officer, Troy Worth took his oath of workplace as the town’s latest police chief Monday.
The council chambers at Vancouver Metropolis Corridor crammed with individuals for the ceremony. Many wore uniforms with badges from Vancouver police, the Clark County Sheriff’s Workplace, Vancouver Hearth Division, Battle Floor Police Division and Washington State Patrol. Worth’s dad and mom flew from Chicago to attend.
Worth mentioned policing has modified throughout his 30-some years in legislation enforcement.
“I’m proud to be part of this next phase in the Vancouver Police Department, because there’s a community out here of 200,000 strong that are relying on us to keep the spirit of Vancouver alive, to make this the safest urban city in the state of Washington, and to do what we can for this community, for the next generation,” Worth mentioned.
Metropolis Supervisor Lon Pluckhahn mentioned he was proud to have “one of our own” within the chief’s position.
“All of those prior promotions have led to him being ready and prepared to be able to assume this role for our community,” Pluckhahn mentioned.
Worth has been the performing chief since Jeff Mori retired Oct. 11. Earlier than that, he labored below Mori because the division’s deputy chief.
“This is kind of unique in that Chief Mori and I worked closely together, and his priorities that he established were ones that he and I wrote together,” Worth informed The Columbian in an interview earlier than the ceremony. “I want to continue that, because we’re just not there yet.”
When requested if the publish felt like a very long time coming, Worth mentioned he doesn’t take a look at it as one thing that was owed to him. As an alternative, he known as the workplace a “privilege and an honor.”
“My whole career, I wanted to work my way up and have greater responsibility and greater ability to shape the direction of a department and so I’m happy the opportunity’s come along,” Worth mentioned.
He mentioned he is aware of he’s taking on throughout tight monetary instances. The town struggled to stability its 2025-26 funds amid a $43 million deficit. Worth additionally takes over on the heels of the failure of the town’ Proposition 4, which aimed to spice up the company’s staffing by 80 officers and greater than 30 nonsworn positions.
Worth mentioned he plans to speak to extra voters and work with different businesses within the justice system with the intention of coming again to voters with a “more holistic” poll measure sooner or later.
He additionally mentioned he intends to proceed working towards filling the division’s vacancies and leveraging know-how, corresponding to drones, when there aren’t sufficient officers to go round.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, but this is a great place to serve, and I’m honored,” Worth mentioned at Monday’s ceremony. “I’m honored to be your police chief.”