Meet New Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender

STRONGSVILLE, OH - The city has a new police chief. Mark Fender, the former deputy chief of the Strongsville Police Department, rose to chief following the retirement of James Kobak. Fender is a 28-year veteran of the Strongsville Police Department.

Fender spent four years serving as deputy chief. Before that he held nearly every position you can hold in a police department. He spent nine years as a patrolman, two as sergeant, and 13 years as a Lieutenant. He also served for eight years as a member of the Southwest Enforcement Bureau SWAT team.

He credits his training with teaching him about the massive role law enforcement plays in everyday people's live. He says he has the utmost respect for the Constitution and personal freedoms. He also wants the police force to interact regularly with citizens and to teach children that they should never fear a police officer.

Patch spoke with Fender about his new position and what the future of policing looks like in Strongsville.

Patch: What is the state of the Strongsville Police Department in 2017?

Mark Fender: I think the fortunate thing is that I’m inheriting a very healthy department and healthy organization and I’m proud to say that. I’ve worked with (former chief) Charlie Goss for a number of years and the transition to Chief Kobak was a fantastic, seamless fit. His leadership style was one I prospered under and I learned greatly from both of them.

The move into this position now is a privilege. A high benchmark has been set by both of those men. There is a challenge to continue their legacy.

Patch: More than ever, there's a spotlight on how police departments interact with their communities. How would you describe your style of policing?

MF: There’s a term that’s used in our profession, "community-oriented policing." The style I resonate towards, and my career is based on that, is community relationships and almost a customer mindset. We encourage our guys to create opportunities to be involved in places that are proactive in nature. Recently, we’ve been teaching active threat response actions, in light of the violence taking place throughout the world and our country, on what to do in that event. We want our community to know what to do and through those events we develop relationships with people that we can call our friends. It can be something as simple as going to a disturbance or burglary and treating people as customers and working hand-in-hand with our community.

Patch: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing your department moving forward?

MF: Everyone can identify with the heroin crisis. There are legislative mandates and different things that are occurring in levels above us, laws are changing, and we’re able to work within the guidelines of the law, enforce the constitution, and protect our community. The other is the threat of domestic terrorism. Lone wolf attacks, for instance. Those are the things that immediately come to my mind.

Patch: How do you plan on addressing those issues? Specifically, the heroin crisis?

MF: We have a very active group of people that are proactive in investigating and prosecuting drug trafficking. We have guys that are passionate about getting that stuff off our streets. I think of the city of Strongsville as my house. We develop a culture where each officer has a sense of responsibility that when something occurs in our city, it occurs in their house. How many of us would want those drugs coming into our house? We wouldn’t. It would be unacceptable. There should be a passion coming from each of us. We investigate to the fullest and work those cases all the way up to distribution and work with state and federal partners to produce arrests.

We also work with partners in the health field to find help for those that have slipped into that lifestyle of addiction. My heart goes out to them. I have met a number of families that have been completely destroyed by drugs, whether by suicide, or someone struggling through addiction. We want to help them, too.

Patch: There are currently 71 officers in Strongsville. Any plans to expand?

MF: We’d always love to expand but we’d need to justify it. I’d like to see an additional officer hired this year, and put in a patrol unit. I’d also like to increase the size of the detective bureau.

Photo from City of Strongsville