SOUTH FORK — The Town of South fork recently announced that Sean Burkey is the new South Fork Police Department Chief. Burkey brings 35 years of experience as a military police officer and a civilian police officer.

Burkey is eager to bring his decades of expertise and community-oriented goals to the Town of South Fork.

Burkey and his wife, Amanda Kucinski, immediately fell in love with South Fork the first time they visited. Burkey was contacted by his old roommate Hank Weber, who was the former SF Police Chief and is now the SF Town Manager, to consider the open police chief position.

“At first I thought he was nuts,” laughed Burkey. “I told him that if he thought I was going to come down and be breaking in doors or wrestling criminals to the ground daily, that I was too old for that. He just laughed at me and told me to come visit. I understood the minute I got here because of how peaceful and beautiful it was.”

Burkey was happy to see the South Fork community was pretty much what he had been hoping for and that though his career comes with a dangerous edge, the quiet community of South Fork was exactly what he wanted to serve.

“I firmly believe in community policing," he said. "I spend most of my days out helping community members shovel their sidewalks or checking in on businesses. I want to continue that layer of trust that Weber and previous officers have worked so hard to create. There just has to be a face to law enforcement if you want the community you serve to come to you, trust you and help you be successful.”

Burkey also said that he would like to see the police force expand to four full-time officers.

“I want to see 24-hour coverage here, especially during the busy months in the summer," he said. "I think it's important to have that kind of presence here and that it will be well received and everyone who comes on board will be approachable, which is what law enforcement is all about.”

Burkey traveled all over the world in his years in the military and is currently on his way to continue civilian training at the police academy in Mancos.

“I am very excited to further my training and gain new perspective that I can bring back here," Burkey said. "I feel very blessed to have been hired for this position and I can’t wait to get busy serving the community.”

The new police chief and his wife are also looking forward to enjoying the great outdoors.

“We are looking forward to summer when we can fly fish and go horseback riding again," he said. "There are so many things to do around here it's amazing and we are very excited to see what there is to see.”

Burkey will be hosting Coffee with a Cop in the coming weeks and plans to organize coat and food drives in the near future.

“I plan on increasing our social media presence as well as some opportunities for the community to come and meet us,” he said.