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By Olivia Johnson

On Tuesday, Kevin Carter traded in the interim tag and was officially named the police chief of the West Point Police Department.

Carter said to be named chief is an honor.

“It’s a title with a lot of responsibility behind it, but I feel honored to have it,” Carter said. “It means the world to me that I’ve been given this opportunity. It shows me that other people have faith in me and my capabilities to serve and protect them.”

Carter held the interim position for five months before being named police chief. Previously, Carter worked as assistant chief for WPPD for roughly six years.

In his new position, Carter said he plans to help bridge the gap between the police department and the community.

“This is nothing against any prior administration, but I plan on bridging the gap with the community,” Carter said. “In West Point, there’s a divide, like an ‘us versus them’ mentality. It’s been that way as long as I can remember, and I want to remove that.”

In time, he hopes to bring new programs to the police department.

“I want to put my own twist on it, but it’s going be a similar thing to what we’ve done before,” Carter said. “We got a lot of work to do in-house but sooner rather than later, we’re going to roll out things such as neighborhood watch meetings, citizens police academy, maybe even a police academy. For various reasons, we don’t do it anymore, but I hope that we can.”

During the ceremony, many local citizens, former West Point police chiefs, and current police chiefs from around the county came to congratulate Carter on his new role.

Upon seeing all the support, Carter said it made him feel like he did something right.

“In order for them to be here, it would have had to mean I had an impact on them in some way and that means the world to me,” Carter said. “Looking around the room, I was surprised, in a good way, to see who all came tonight. I love it because another one of my goals is to tighten up the relationships between our surrounding law enforcement community because we’re all that we have.”