NEBRASKA CITY - Benjamin Murry took the oath of office Tuesday as the new Nebraska City police chief.

Mayor Bryan Bequette introduced Murry, who was among two internal candidates. Murry said working with the officers for many years in the sergeant’s role is going to be a huge benefit to him as chief, but there is an even bigger benefit for his knowledge of the community.

Murry: “I’m already a part of this community. I came here, like I said, 15 years ago and love the community and want to just continue to be a service to it.”

 

 

Murry, 54,  became an EMT in 1989 in Odessa, Mo., and was certified through the law enforcement academy in Missouri in 1991. In 2001, he attended the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center and was elected sheriff as a write-in candidate in Kimball County in 2007. He moved to Nebraska City police in 2009 and was promoted to sergeant in 2017.

 

Mayor Bequette said Murray has been a field training officer for the Nebraska City/Otoe County emergency services team, a liaison officer with Nebraska Information Analysis Center and instructed in various fields including taser, tactical operations, CPR and records management. He is a volunteer firefighter and EMT, a board member of the DHS opioid steering committee, mental health response committee with Region V.

He said police are working on a grant that would allow them to work with  CHI Health and Region V to put together a mental health response team.

Murry: “Mental health and substance abuse are one of those things that will hit everybody. They don’t just affect the person, they affect the family. They affect the community. I feel that’s a big jump in what we need to do and focus on and try to get that help out there to people.”

He plans to continue his role as volunteer firefighter.

Murry: “We need volunteers. We need people to step up. I’m not going to step away because I have the training and ability. We’re one department in my opinion as first responders. We have to help each other out.”

Police Cpt. Lonnie Neeman served as interim chief after the retirement of David Lacy, but Mayor Bequette said he did not apply for the chief position.

 

 

Murry credits former Chief David Lacy for preparing him for the job.

Murry: “I’ve also, with this department, was able to be involved in several different aspects of law enforcement – administrative side of things with our records management system and the different things we have to deal with in law enforcement I’m an administrator for.”

The 15-member department is made up of a chief, captain, four sergeants and nine officers.

He said his immediate goals are officer training and community involvement.

 

Murry: “We have the same issues that every town in America has. We have the same problems. We deal with the same things. Sometimes the people you know them, sometimes you don’t. We are, in my opinion, a tourist-type town with the Lied Lodge and the different things we have here – the Tree Adventure – we have people coming and going through Nebraska City all the time. This is probably a unique thing for a town this size to have that much outside traffic coming in.”

He said his 30 plus years of focus on law enforcement in rural communities will be a benefit in his new role.