Patrick VanDyke named Alexandria’s Public Safety Commissioner

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Patrick VanDyke, a former APD lieutenant that served at the department for 30 years and was considered to be the city’s top choice for police chief last year, was hired to fill the vacant public safety commissioner position. Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy confirmed the hire to News Channel 5 Wednesday morning.

You might remember, VanDyke was one of the eight candidates in 2021 that applied for the Alexandria Police Chief position. During the search for a new chief to replace former chief Jerrod King, the city’s former mayor, Jeff Hall, created a panel of nine community members to interview each candidate and decide on a top three.

All nine members of the panel unanimously decided that VanDyke was their top choice for APD Chief. However, the former mayor did not go with the recommendation for VanDyke and instead promoted current Chief Ronney Howard.

Now, Mayor Roy has brought VanDyke back to the department after he retired in 2020. VanDyke will be in charge of reimplementing the SafeAlex program to help bring back community policing and focus on high-crime areas.

According to Mayor Roy, the new public safety commissioner will also work to eliminate vacant, dilapidated and abandoned properties.

VanDyke will also be working in the office of recruitment to try and bring more officers to a department that is still approximately 50 officers short.

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