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Silt names its next chief of police

Alex Zorn
  

The Town of Silt named Sergeant Mike Kite the next Chief of Police of the Silt Police Department. Kite has been a part of the department for 10 years and is eager to move the department forward and serve the town and its people.
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Silt named its next chief of police by promoting from within. The new chief, Sgt. Mike Kite, has been with the Silt Police Department since 2008 and served the interim chief of police for the duration of the chief search.

“Chief Kite will serve the community with integrity and honesty,” a town of Silt press release read.

Town Administrator Pamela Woods added that Kite received a lot of support from the community, including a letter from the Silt Police Department backing the hire.



“I am excited to move the department forward and serve the town and its people,” Kite said. “My hope is to keep providing the security and confidence in the Silt Police Department that we’ve always had.”

He added he is honored to have received the confidence of his peers and is eager to move the department forward.



During the hiring process, Silt received 12 applications from as far as Indiana and Arizona and narrowed the list down to four.

An interview committee that included local attorneys, commanders within Garfield County, two department heads and Woods looked at each of the final candidates, all of whom were in state.

Woods added that the initial thought was to name him interim chief of police. However, the board felt that promotion would be selling him short so on Monday night the Board of Trustees unanimously approved him for the permanent position.

He succeeds Levy Burris, who retired in January in a mutual agreement with the town after a four-month suspension and an independent investigation of the department that the town has kept secret. Burris had been chief for 10 years.

Kite has been a Colorado police officer for more than 25 years, first serving on the Eastern Slope and Denver Metro area before moving out west into smaller communities.

“I’m more of a small-town guy,” he said. “I like the ability to talk with the community daily.”


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