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Central Point Police Chief Kris Allison retires By Buffy Pollock Jan 04, 2023 12:45 AM A A Central Point Police Chief Kris Allison kicked off the new year by retiring from her decade-long post as the city’s top cop. She gave her final radio call last week and handed her duties over to newly minted department Chief Scott Logue. Allison plans to detour “real” retirement by continuing her duties as an adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University and likely heading to law school. Allison said her years as Jackson County’s first female police chief, which she took on in 2012, were marked by steady growth for the city, forging ties with local businesses and schools and, more recently, a tumultuous few years of wildfires, civil unrest across the country and navigating a new normal during the COVID pandemic. With 29 years in law enforcement, Allison said she’d “been in law enforcement longer than I haven’t been.” Some 25 years since coming to Central Point, she said she chose to leave “while things are good,” and feeling like she’d done what she set out to do. Relaxing in her office shortly before her last day on the job, she was optimistic about starting “back at the bottom” and doing something new. “It was one of those things you have to look at and say, ‘OK, is it time?’ I could stay longer. I considered it, but I kept going back to the fact that I’ve done a lot here, and I’ve done a lot in law enforcement,” she said, noting that she had always planned to study law, even before “falling in love with law enforcement.” “I think there’s a time when you know it’s your time and there might be something else on the other side. And I want to be able to do those things, too.” She added, “Things are good here. They’re right where they need to be, and it felt like it was time to see what else I’m supposed to do.” Allison began her career as a reserve officer for Phoenix Police Department, joining Central Point Police Department in 1998. She became Jackson County’s first female chief in 2012, and Allison said her primary focus as chief had been a commitment to community policing and to ensure livability for citizens. “I feel like with me being chief, we really had a commitment to our citizens. Livability is everything, and part of livability is safety. As a citizen, you want to feel like you can call someone and someone is gonna pick up. Not three hours later, but they’re there when you call for help,” she added. “I think we have done a really good job of keeping it about the people and saying, ‘Yes, livability still matters here.’” Central Point City Council member Taneea Browning said Allison had created a culture of positivity in the city, forging strong ties with business owners and School District 6. “The partnership between her leadership and the school district is absolutely commendable. She’s worked on creating those connections, and she valued the importance of law enforcement having that connection with students,” Browning said. “One thing I am impressed with is that she remained committed to the D.A.R.E. program, which I know gets a lot of flack and no longer really deals with alcohol and drugs, but it talks a lot about bullying and making good decisions, which is extremely relevant and has so many impacts.” Browning added, “I think the chief’s leadership has not only forged strong connections with the schools but also with small businesses. She really helped to create a culture in a time of uncertainty in general.” Local martial arts instructor and Central Point resident Daryl Griggs said Allison made a point to connect with residents. In recent years, with civil unrest around the country and a growing anti-law enforcement sentiment, Griggs said, Allison reached out during a time he was feeling discouraged with the outside world. Griggs posted on social media about feelings he had related to all the chaos and racial tension in the world. “I remember Kris Allison made the effort to ask me what she could do to help me feel better about what was going on in our country, and the truth is still the same: Keep being amazing and holding your officers accountable, just like you have,” Griggs said. “I just remember how she made the effort to step up and say something and to make that effort. It meant so much. We all know that whole superficial thing that people in those positions usually have going on, where everything is surface-level. Yeah, she doesn’t have that. Kris is my people.” Griggs said Allison had a genuine approach that resonated with community members from all walks of life. “I’ve never met anyone like her. To meet her and talk to her, you’d never guess she was a police officer. She genuinely cares about the community getting along with law enforcement,” he said. “I remember one of my favorite things she told me was she would send her officers to medical calls, just so they did something other than just the hard stuff with having to put someone in handcuffs or having to send someone out of the house.” Griggs said Allison’s leadership had given him a more positive view of law enforcement. “I remember telling her, a day or two before she stepped down, how I was walking in my neighborhood, and it just suddenly hit me. My wife didn’t tell me to stay on the street or stay in the streetlights. I had one of our officers pass me in their cars, and I didn’t freak out. And I know, 100%, that it’s because Kris pushed me to meet our officers and to get to know them,” Griggs said. “I believe her so much about how the police force in Central Point is and what she strived to build. That gave me a level of comfort, as a Black man, walking after dark in a nice neighborhood. … She showed me that we were doing the exact same thing to the police department and that we all have to work together to change that culture and those biases.” Chief Scott Logue, who replaced Allison as of Jan. 1, said Allison would be missed. “Kris was chief for 10 years, and I’ve learned a lot from her over that stretch of time, and over the last 20 years of me being here and working with her. I’ve definitely learned a lot of good things, and she’s done a lot for the department and for the city,” Logue said. “From my standpoint, it was a great career for her, and I think the city and the department are in a good spot. We have a lot of good people, and people are excited about the future.” Allison said she’d miss the community and her co-workers. “I have worked with a lot of really good human beings, so I think that’s what I’ll miss the most. They are top-notch people, and they don’t even know how amazing they are,” Allison said. “We had COVID; we had the fires, the civil unrest these past few years. Even though we didn’t have a lot of it here, you could tell people were thinking about it, so it was really wonderful to see everyone come in here every day, giving 110%.” During the Almeda Fire, when Allison evacuated the entire city due to lack of firefighting resources, Allison said the police force put the community above all else. “I had two to three of my officers who were evacuated two separate times, but they would get somewhere and be evacuated from that area and have to go somewhere else. And still they all showed up to be here and to serve the community,” she said. “They were getting their families situated and put together, and then would leave them to come here and report for duty. That’s the kind of people we have in Central Point.” A Central Point native, Allison said it had been an honor to lead the department in her hometown. “I grew up here. I want to make sure this is the best community. Leave it better than you found it. I did that,” she said. “Not that it was bad before, but if you could put that philosophy into every project, every emotion … you don’t go wrong.” Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.