Edina police chief to take top spot on Lakeville force

Edina Police Chief Jeff Long will take over the top job in Lake­ville's police department beginning Jan. 21, the city of Lakeville has announced.

Long's selection ended a six-month search process that began after Chief Tom Vonhof retired in July. Lake­ville Sgt. John Kormann has served as interim chief.

Chief Long was chosen because he's a "seasoned professional who has earned the respect of his department and community through his team approach to managing," said Steve Mielke, Lakeville's city administrator. "He also has extensive experience working in collaboration with other public safety organizations."

Long, who has been Edina's chief for four years and served in various roles there since 1989, said he was told that his history of developing new community programming was also attractive to Lakeville city officials.

Long said plenty of people have asked him why he would want to leave his post in Edina.

"I've been asked that question a lot, because to some people it doesn't make sense," Long said. "What attracted me is that Lakeville is known for its quality of living and its city services, and it's a growing city in the metropolitan area."

Those attributes are similar to Edina, but Edina is no longer growing, he said.

"With about 10 years left in my career, they're going to see a lot of growth [in Lakeville]."

While Edina's "been very good to me," the Lakeville job was "just too good of an opportunity to pass up," he said.

The two forces are similar in size, with 53 sworn officers in Lakeville and 51 in Edina.

Long said he's proud of several accomplishments in Edina, including having a 98 percent community approval rating and some of the "safest roads in the metro area."

Over four years, he's worked to make the department more transparent to citizens, the media and outside agencies. He's active on Twitter and writes a blog, which he wants to continue.

He'll spend his first few months just seeing how things work in Lakeville, he said.

After that, he may re-evaluate the department's structure, including the chain of command and how divisions are supervised. "I think there are areas for improvement," he said.

Other things he hopes to carry over include a culture of teamwork on the force and an emphasis on community outreach, including school programming, he said.

But "It will never be, 'We're going to do it because Edina did it that way,' " he said. "We're going to do it in a way that works best for Lakeville."