A new era in the Champaign Police Department began Tuesday night, as Anthony Cobb was sworn in as Champaign chief of police before the city council.

While the oath of office officially marked the start of his tenure, Cobb has been working since Monday. The Daily Illini talked to Cobb on Tuesday morning about his new position and how he plans to address some of the main concerns affecting the department.

Cobb began his law enforcement career in Urbana back in 1992. He was promoted to assistant chief of police in October 2010.

The Daily Illini: So how was your first day on the job?

Anthony Cobb: Long day. The bulk of my day yesterday (Monday) was spent getting out and meeting the employees. Make sure they got to see my face and talked to them about my philosophies and expectations. I had my first shift briefing at 7 a.m. and then went through all the patrol briefings throughout the day. And between the briefings I spoke with the civilian non-sworn staff as well as all the detectives and the administrators. A lot of meetings yesterday.

DI: Being a Champaign native, has the feeling sunk in yet that you are now at the top of Champaign Police?

AC: It has sunk in finally. I realized I have a huge job to do. This is a great police department, great people, a lot of resources. But there are a few issues we have to work through. The first thing I have to deal with is getting to know the officers and the employees of this agency. We need to work well together.

DI: Was it difficult leaving Urbana after 20 years? How are you going to apply any lessons and skills learned at Urbana Police to your new position here?

AC: I don’t look at it as leaving. I can go back to Urbana today or tomorrow and see my friends, family and coworkers. I still work with many people in Urbana. Me coming over here will help develop a better relationship between the two. Urbana Police really helped me get my foundation in law enforcement. They helped me develop into an independent thinker; I’m not afraid to think outside the box. I’m not scared to take on challenges. But these are skills I also learned from my family.

DI: How will your Champaign roots help you deal with the police chief position?

AC: It helps me get a great perspective in the community, build relationships – I have built life-long relationships here that are strong and viable and will help me here. I know they (the community) really want to partner with the department, and I want that to happen. The one thing I stressed in my acceptance speech is that this is going to be a process and that this won’t happen overnight.

There’s so much that needs to happen in these initial 30 to 60 days that will require me to work at in here at 82 E. University (the police department’s address). Yes, I plan to get out into the community and do things, but a lot of community stuff I want to do cannot happen unless I don’t take care of stuff at home first and deal with the issues within the agency.

DI: How do you mend the strained relationship between the police and the Champaign community?

AC: The relationship in the past few years hasn’t been all that positive but that was always dictated by who was in charge of the police. I have moms, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins galore in Champaign. My relationship and where I’m going to be at is where I’m going to be. With that said, I think the community will challenge local law enforcement when they see something they’re not happy with. I’ve got a job to do. My job is to be chief of police and serve the people and keep them safe.

DI: Over the past few months, there have been talks of internal conflict within the department. How are you planning to address this?

AC: We’re looking at organizational structure right now. We’re trying to figure out how many deputy chiefs there will be and who is going to take over their positions. I know Deputy Chief (Holly) Nearing will retire at the end of the year, so a lot of chain of command that was here under the previous administration, quite a few are gone and the ones that remain are loyal to the organization, and I expect them to be loyal to my administration.

We have a chain of command, and we all understand that chain of command. Sometimes law enforcers may have to do things we don’t necessarily like or may not want to do but if that’s the way we want to do it then that’s how it has to be done.

DI: And what will you do to work with U of I students, staff and faculty?

AC: U of I (students) are part of the community. Students are near and dear to us. The U of I is a huge asset and a huge employer to our community. We will work with all students — not just U of I students, but also Parkland students. I’ve already spoken to several students and granted them interviews when I was transitioning from (the police department in) Urbana to Champaign.