Ken Winter dreamed of working in law enforcement for as long as he can remember.
His grandfather Curt Grist was town marshal in Bruce. He had an uncle, Joe Grist, who was a state trooper and MBI agent.
“I was just always enamored with the job,” Winter said. “It was just something I always wanted to do.”
He worked as an intern with the Bruce Police Department when he was in college and then went to New Albany. He would work with the Greenville Police Department for 17 years.
“It was there I really got involved in the forensic aspects of police work,” Winter said.
That led him to take a job with the state crime lab in Wisconsin.
“It was a valuable experience,” he said. “We worked crime scenes all over the state. I learned a lot during my time there.”
He returned home to Mississippi after being offered the police chief job in Indianola. He had started work on his masters degree while in Wisconsin and continued it at Delta State while serving as chief. His experience at Delta State opened opportunities to teach, which became another passion of Winter’s.
“I saw an avenue there I could expand into criminal justice education, which I loved,” he said.
Winter was among a select group of police chiefs who helped establish the Police Academy at Mississippi Delta Community College around that time.
“That was when there weren’t a lot of basic academies in the state, and if you wanted to hire a new officer you had to wait seven to eight months to get them through the academy,” Winter said. “That’s not a good situation. You can’t allow an officer that’s not certified to work alone. They have to be with another officer, and that kills the budgets of these small departments.”
Winter was police chief in Indianola when he was first elected to the board of directors of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police.
He served one year and had decided not to seek re-election to the board when he received a call immediately after the summer conference from Pete Bowen, Police Chief in Columbus. He asked if Winter would take over as the new secretary/treasurer for the association.
Danny Banks, a former chief investigator for State Auditor Steve Patterson and a former police chief in Itta Bena had been secretary/treasurer, but was found guilty of embezzlement from the association.
Winter agreed to complete Banks’ term and worked with a CPA to revamp the checks and balances for the association to better protect their finances.
“It was about the end of that term I was appointed director of the state crime lab, and I informed the board I needed to step down to focus on that job,” Winter said.
But things would again turn. Roger Vanlandingham, chief in Batesville, took the post but resigned after only a year and Winter was asked to take it back.
He held the position until 2004 when he retired from the state crime lab. About that time the Police Chiefs’ board altered the structure of the organization which transformed the secretary/treasurer position into a full-time director. Winter was once again asked to fill that role.
The association currently has more than 500 members, approximately half of which are police chiefs from the around the state.
“Our mission is training. I do a lot of teaching,” Winter said from his office in his Bruce home.
In 2004, they got a bill passed in the legislature requiring continuing education for all police chiefs.
Winter oversees the association’s two conferences a year where much of those required classes are held. He also helped bring the annual Law Enforcement Command College to Ole Miss, which is a partnership with the FBI.
“It’s a week’s worth of executive level training,” Winter said.
He also conducts regional lunches throughout the state to allow chiefs to get together and ask whatever questions they may have.
“With me basically being a one-man show, it’s important we have a lot of communication to make sure we’re staying on top of all the needs of our members.”
Winter works closely with the board of directors while serving as an information source for police chiefs throughout the state.
Joey East, Oxford Police Chief, is the current president of the association.
Legislative issues are another of the areas that fall under Winter’s purview.
“We worked hard to get the ‘Back the Badge’ bill passed this year,” Winter said.
The bill enhances penalties against people who commit crimes against law enforcement officers.
“We introduced a bill this year to include in driver’s ed coursework a session on how to interact with police officers during a traffic stop.”
“We focus on things that can make the job as safe as possible for our officers,” Winter explained. “Our primary goal is for when these officers go to work, they come back home safely.”
“I’m sort of the troubleshooter for the organization. If a chief has a problem they can’t get a handle on, they contact me and I research it to show them the related policy or put them in contact with the correct person to give them the help they need.”
Winter said his office is somewhat of a “clearinghouse” for the association. One example was when Derma was in need of patrol cars, Winter was able to connect them with Waveland which had received many following Hurricane Katrina.
“A lot of times it’s just helping connect people that can help each other,” Winter said.
“This is a job where I do whatever I can to help our police departments all over the state.”