In my conversations with Gary Lewis, the city of Bexley’s new Chief of Police, the moments that stuck out to me most tied back to numbers.

Bexley has been around for 115 years, yet Gary is our first African American police chief. He's been in law enforcement for 31 years and has five children! The surprising part is they are 34, 30, 28, 25 and – wait for it – three!

His three-year strategic plan for the city focuses on four areas: community policing, administration and operations, specialty projects and communications.

Now, let’s get to know Gary a bit better.

He enjoys playing golf, working out and, most of all, spending time with his family.

Gary grew up on the west side of Columbus and spent 22 years with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, retired then became the Senior Director of Media and Public Relations at The Ohio State University. Gary then became the Chief of Police at Cleveland State University from 2015-2018 and before this role, from 2018 -2022 he was the AVP of Operations and a chief of police at the University of Louisville.

During that time, he raised four boys – and all of them went into the military. Three are still active. “Having four sons who’ve all gotten their degrees—I’m very proud of them,” he said. One recently got married in Honolulu, and two of them have their own children. Along the way, he remarried “a brilliant woman who’s extremely supportive and successful,” Krysta, who he met while she was in a management training program and he was an adjunct professor. “We counter-balance each other so well,” he said. Together they had the adorable three-year-old Ivy. Now, Gary has five grandchildren, two of whom are older than Ivy. “Watching them play together is really a blessing,” he beamed.

“A lot of the driving force in coming back to Central Ohio is family,” Gary explained about taking the job last September and becoming our first Police Chief of color. “I hold that honor with great pride, but it’s bigger than that. It’s that Bexley recognized there was an opportunity for change and that’s happening across the country.”

Though he’s accepted a three-year contract, he’d love to stay for longer. As the leader of 32 sworn-in personnel and a number of others, he hopes to groom the next chief during his time here. “I take a lot of pride in mentoring and growing the next leaders. That’s how I’m built. It’s succession planning and growing and being able to imprint what 21st century policing will look like. DEI has to be part of the narrative. You want the department to reflect local and state census data. I know it’s tough, if you’re a 22-year-old African American male, to have the desire to do this kind of work on the heels of what’s happened in this country. I have to try and make a difference.”

Bexley, he says, is an extremely safe community. He uses traditional methods to ensure safety but says a leader needs to look at vulnerabilities and strengths to see where the opportunities are. One such opportunity has been engaging with local businesses differently and proactively. “It’s been well-received,” he said. “They’ve learned about their vulnerabilities, and how to improve their cameras and doors. Plus, now we are familiar faces.”

This business initiative proved that there is a tremendous amount of overlap in the department’s communications and being connected to the community.

“There are a number of stakeholders that have brought legitimate concerns and issues to the city’s attention , some going back a few years. When working with them on those concerns while bringing forth my own strategic plan, the communication, the visibility and interaction is having an impact,” Gary said.

In the U.S. landscape of the Black Lives Matter movement, all-too-frequent shootings and most recently, the situation in Memphis, Gary is mindful that perception is reality. “Although we may not have incidents here that other communities have dealt with, there is still a residual effect. We need to be mindful that we in this profession have an image that is not always the most positive in the African American community, specifically with contact," Gary said. "The first part is being open and honest that there is an issue in this profession, that we have to do better and change those narratives. There is a moral, ethical, and legal component. You can’t legislate bad policing; you have to get at the core.”

One thing he’d like to ask parents is to help change the narrative by giving kids positive interactions and teaching them police officers are there to help, not – as he’s overheard on occasion – threatening that the police officer sitting at a restaurant will arrest a misbehaving kid.

When Chief Lewis not planning opportunities for positive engagements with our younger residents like the Big Table at Bexley Middle School, a mural to be painted at the police department by high school students, a TableTop exercise at CSG or increased law enforcement presence at crosswalks during peak school hours, this dad and grandfather loves taking his princess-loving preschooler to COSI and finding new parks to explore.