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For the last six and a half years, Keith Brumfield has been chief of police at Diamond.
On Monday, the Diamond City Council accepted his resignation.
“It has been an honor for me to serve the citizens of Diamond in my hometown,” Brumfield said.
His resignation letter was dated June 28, which is when Brumfield gave his two-week notice to acting mayor Patrick English. Brumfield continued to work until July 1, and was on the payroll for the week of July 4-8, taking the last week of his vacation.
Brumfield has accepted the position of supervisor of court security at the Newton County Courthouse. He officially started Monday. Brumfield will also be bailiff for Newton County Judge Tim Perigo. There are three bailiffs – one for each of the courts — in the courthouse.
Asked why he decided to make this move, Brumfield said, “The biggest reason is a great opportunity, not just for myself, but for my family. It was a hard decision to make, but an easy decision to make. The Lord is the one that helped me make the decision and I just followed His leadership in doing it, which made the decision a whole lot easier.”
When Brumfield stepped into the chief’s position, he had a few goals in mind.
“And they have actually all been met,” he said. “It is my prayer that they continue to be met. The first and foremost goal that I had was that the citizens and the city as a whole to trust the police department again. Because when I first stepped in, the trust factor was really, really low. And my biggest goal was to make sure that the citizens of Diamond knew that we were there to serve them. It was our priority to protect them and to be here for them and for them to trust us. I feel like we have accomplished that goal.
“The other goal was to hire officers that had the same goal in mind. I have had a lot of good officers over the last six and a half years, a lot of them,” Brumfield said. “I appreciate working with them as well. The third goal was that we had decent equipment. Didn’t get everything that we wanted, because law enforcement equipment is expensive, but we did get two decent cars, and we got equipment that does (what) work for it at the time…”
For the last six and a half years, Keith Brumfield has been chief of police at Diamond.
On Monday, the Diamond City Council accepted his resignation.
“It has been an honor for me to serve the citizens of Diamond in my hometown,” Brumfield said.
His resignation letter was dated June 28, which is when Brumfield gave his two-week notice to acting mayor Patrick English. Brumfield continued to work until July 1, and was on the payroll for the week of July 4-8, taking the last week of his vacation.
Brumfield has accepted the position of supervisor of court security at the Newton County Courthouse. He officially started Monday. Brumfield will also be bailiff for Newton County Judge Tim Perigo. There are three bailiffs – one for each of the courts — in the courthouse.
Asked why he decided to make this move, Brumfield said, “The biggest reason is a great opportunity, not just for myself, but for my family. It was a hard decision to make, but an easy decision to make. The Lord is the one that helped me make the decision and I just followed His leadership in doing it, which made the decision a whole lot easier.”
When Brumfield stepped into the chief’s position, he had a few goals in mind.
“And they have actually all been met,” he said. “It is my prayer that they continue to be met. The first and foremost goal that I had was that the citizens and the city as a whole to trust the police department again. Because when I first stepped in, the trust factor was really, really low. And my biggest goal was to make sure that the citizens of Diamond knew that we were there to serve them. It was our priority to protect them and to be here for them and for them to trust us. I feel like we have accomplished that goal.
“The other goal was to hire officers that had the same goal in mind. I have had a lot of good officers over the last six and a half years, a lot of them,” Brumfield said. “I appreciate working with them as well. The third goal was that we had decent equipment. Didn’t get everything that we wanted, because law enforcement equipment is expensive, but we did get two decent cars, and we got equipment that does (what) work for it at the time…”
Even though Brumfield is now working in Neosho, he will still be living in Diamond.
“I have been here the majority of my life and, Lord willing, I plan on staying here. Because this is still my hometown,” he said. “Thank you to the citizens of Diamond for the years of support. I have been very blessed to be able to work and protect our great citizens, and will now look forward to getting to know them as friends…”
In his resignation letter, Brumfield noted that Officer Mike Jones will be interim chief until the council appoints a new chief.
“Keith was good and we are going to miss him,” Diamond Mayor pro-tem Patrick English said.
