20
March
2012
|
12:14 PM
America/Chicago

Alum David Baker will lead Omaha PD

Longtime Omaha police officer David L. Baker is the third consecutive Bellevue University graduate to be appointed to lead the Omaha Police Department (OPD).

Baker, 52, will become interim police chief effective March 31, when the current Chief, Alex Hayes, will retire. Baker has served 23 years with OPD, including the last four years as Deputy Police Chief, second in command on the force.

In announcing Baker’s appointment as interim chief on March 19, Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle said he will begin a search for a permanent chief immediately, with candidates to be screened in May.

Hayes, the current chief, filled a vacancy left by the retirement of Eric Buske, who served as chief from July 2008 to August 2009. Buske left Omaha to become chief of the Bryan, Texas, police department.

All three men are graduates of Bellevue University’s Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration degree program, Buske graduating in 1995, Hayes in 2006, and Baker in 2004. Baker also completed a Master of Arts in Management degree from the University in 2008.

Local media coverage of Baker’s appointment can be found on the websites of Omaha television station KETV and the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.