FREDERICKTOWN — The Village of Fredericktown has found its next police chief.
Tracey Myers, a 56-year-old Centerburg resident, was sworn in Wednesday in council chambers by Mayor Jerry Day.
Myers has 36 years of law enforcement experience, including five years with the Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office in northwest Ohio and 31 years with the Westerville Division of Police. He will begin serving as Fredericktown’s new chief on Jan. 30.
“I’m anxious to get started working with him. With all the experience he has in a large department, I’m anxious to get started,” said Day, who served as Fredericktown’s police chief for 30 years before beginning his tenure as mayor.
“He has some good ideas he’s gonna be bringing – he’ll share them with the community a little later – and that’s good.”
Kyle Johnson served as Fredericktown’s police chief for 10 years before stepping down on Nov. 5. He said in a press release that it had been “an honor and a privilege to serve the Fredericktown community,” and that he would remain in the community, albeit in a different professional role.
The village began advertising for its police chief position on Oct. 23, roughly two weeks before Johnson’s last day. Candidates had until Nov. 8 to apply.
Day said eight people applied for the position, and after several weeks of deliberation amongst village officials, the decision came down to two candidates.
“We looked all those over and it came down to two. And when it came down to two, we started checking on Tracey, and that’s as far as we got,” Day said with a smile.
“His former boss is the superintendent now at (the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation). … And we checked with some other people in Centerburg, and everybody (approved). I’m looking for somebody that’s had some experience, and he’s got it.”
Day made an official recommendation to Village Council on Dec. 6 that Fredericktown hire Myers and waive the state’s residency requirement (which mandates that employees of a municipality must live within that municipality). Council voted unanimously to approve both measures.
Sgt. Josh Jones has served as Fredericktown’s interim police chief in the months following Johnson’s resignation. Day praised Jones for his work, and said he will continue to work with the department after Myers takes over.
“He’s done a good job,” Day said. “A lot of things have went on, and he’s done a good job of handling them.”
Myers will earn $65,000 annually for his work as Fredericktown’s police chief. He will oversee six full-time officers, one part-time officer and one auxiliary officer.
Myers was sworn in Wednesday in front of a crowd of family members, village officials and longtime former colleagues, who made the trip up from Westerville to congratulate him on his next step.
“Having everyone here today was just awesome,” he said with a smile. “I mean, I’ve worked with most of these people for 30-plus years.”
Myers said he is looking forward to stepping into his new role soon. He’s eager to get back on the street, working with his fellow officers and building relationships with the public.
“As a captain (in Westerville), I was in charge of many officers. … I think where I thrive is small-unit stuff – you know, the interpersonal skills and knowing your people really well. I always loved being out on the street,” Myers said.
“At Westerville, I didn’t get a lot of time to go do that, but when I did, I’d shove that desk aside and go out. Me and one of the other assistant chiefs, we’d go out a lot after lunch and (we’d say), ‘We’re not going back to the office.’ We’d go out and patrol for a while.
“So that’s what I’m looking forward to, is getting to know the guys. They all look very solid. It looks like a really good department.”
NEARLY FOUR DECADES IN LAW ENFORCEMENT: Myers grew up in rural northwest Ohio – a mile outside of Wren, a village of 200 residents in Van Wert County. He graduated from Crestview High School (in Convoy) in 1983, then went straight into the military, serving in the U.S. Army.
Myers was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia before returning home the following year. He remained in the Army National Guard until 1990.
Myers worked as the deputy sheriff in Van Wert County for five years before joining Westerville’s police force. He worked in – and eventually led – each of the department’s bureaus over the next 31 years, including the detective and patrol divisions.
He served as the commander of Delaware County’s SWAT team for four years, following 10 years as a member of the unit.
One of the highlights of Myers’ career in Westerville came in October 2019, when he served as the incident commander during the Democratic Presidential Primary Debate. Myers was in charge of overseeing 250 law enforcement officers – from local, state and federal agencies – in an effort to keep the public safe during the event, which featured 12 candidates and was held at Otterbein University.
“In our work-up for that, most of the three places that had it, they had like 10 to 50 arrests,” Myers recalled. Prior debates that year had been held in Miami, Detroit and Houston.
“In Westerville, we were able to pull it off with our resources and no arrests, no property damage, nothing. And we had people in the up-town area, if you go back and look at some of the video and stuff, and they were standing on street corners, yelling at each other. But there was a lot of (room) for that.”
Myers is also proud of his work in recent years to educate officers statewide about how best to work with citizens who have autism or other communication disabilities. He and other central Ohio law enforcement officials have trained thousands of officers statewide, Myers said, and he looks forward to continuing this work while also serving as Fredericktown’s chief.
“(We) teach a class on how law enforcement should interact with people with autism. And it’s pretty good, and we’ve taught a couple thousand officers across the state,” he said.
“It just comes down to (taking) your time in dealing with those people. In the academy, we’re always taught (that) time and distance is our friend. Let’s keep that on our side. Let’s give them some distance, and let them go through some of the rituals and things that they have to do.”
CALLED BACK TO WORK: Myers retired from his position in Westerville on Jan. 8. But he said he never ruled out the possibility that he might someday return to the law enforcement field.
When the Fredericktown chief position came open in late October, he said he knew immediately what he needed to do.
“A lot of it to me was, it was up to what God wanted me to do. I follow his leading,” Myers said. “But I was just keeping my eye open for a chief’s job in the area, and if one came up that interested me, I’d apply for it. This one came up and it looked like a good place to be.”
Like Day, Myers believes his experience – and the relationships he’s built through three decades in local law enforcement – will be his greatest strength moving forward.
“I’ve seen a lot of different things. …” Myers said. “I have a lot of contacts in central Ohio law enforcement that, if we need it, I can call on them to help out. And these guys here, who I’ve all grown up with, we can call each other and bounce stuff off of each other.”
Myers hopes to foster the same kind of family atmosphere in Fredericktown’s police department that he felt in Westerville for more than three decades.
“Westerville’s like a family environment, even though there’s 77 officers and 30 civilian employees and that sort of stuff,” Myers said. “(And) we want to mold that here, too, I think. In a small community, we want to keep that family atmosphere.”
Myers lives in Centerburg with his wife, Angela. They have two kids and four grandchildren. He has served on Centerburg’s school board since 2016, and was the board president from 2019-2020.
