Woodstock’s New Chief Looking Forward To Settling In

Woodstock’s first new Chief of Police in over two decades will arrive
in town next week.

http://www.thevermontstandard.com/2011/07/woodstocks-new-chief-looking-forward-to-settling-in/

Woodstock’s New Chief Looking Forward To Settling In

July 9, 2011 · 0 comments

in News,Woodstock

By Gwen Stanley
Standard Staff
Woodstock’s first new Chief of Police in over two decades will arrive
in town next week, straight from sunny Florida.
Robbie Blish of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department has been hired
after what Woodstock Town Manager Phil Swanson called a “pleasant and
thorough” interview process that included seven final candidates, two
from Woodstock’s department. He’s been offered a three-year contract
with the standard year’s probationary period.
Blish brings to the table his own two-decade plus career, which
includes extensive supervisory and managerial experience in a city
force with more than 400 members in which he’s overseen dozens of
officers under various capacities.
The new Chief replaces Bryon Kelly, who announced his retirement
earlier this year.
Blish says he knew he was cut out for law enforcement pretty much from
the start.
“Ever since I was a teenager, really, I wanted to be involved – I was
in the Explorers program at the Springfield police department,” he
said, referring to his youth spent in Springfield, Vermont. After
graduating from Springfield High School in 1986 and training at
Norwich University, he dove headfirst into the thick of it; after
several years as a Patrol Officer he started to take on work in
various units, craving more experience, and upon his move to Fort
Lauderdale he got just that.
The city’s police force includes a crisis intervention team, a school
resource officer and even a graffiti unit. In the years to follow,
Blish got a taste of most of the units and ended up supervising many.
A bit more stressful, one might think, than the rural police work he’s
headed for here, but, he said, that in itself can have its own
challenges.
“When you’re patrolling in the city and you’re in a situation where
you need to call for backup, you might have a dozen officers come out
in a matter of minutes. In a more rural area, you’re patrolling on
your own and you call for backup, they may well have to send officers
from a neighboring town,” he said. “So in that sense I don’t know if
its any safer in a rural setting.”
His plans upon arriving?
“I’ll be spending a week training there with Chief Kelly,” he said,
“and I wish there was more time to do that, but that’s the way the
timing worked out. I’m going to try and pick his brain about
everything there is to Woodstock, everything he knows.”
Come fall, Blish will be sent to the Vermont Police Academy to
complete his recertification. It’s a 53-hour course that will give him
the authority to act in the full capacity of a police chief. The town
did request a waiver for Blish to be able serve immediately, but it
was voted down.
“Which is fine,” said Blish, who said he’s up to the task of
recertification for Vermont. “There’s a lot to be done no matter what.
Some of the certifications that I had in Vermont never expire,” he
said.
Blish said that his first orders of business on settling in will be
administrative tasks and “getting a feel for the community. I’m sure
I’ll be going on a lot of ride-alongs, get to know the different
village areas, the business owners.
“My family is thrilled, and I’m certainly thrilled, to have the
opportunity to return to Vermont,” he said.