Quincy Police Chief Kieth Siebert moving on to Grant PUD

QUINCY — Kieth Siebert said one of the attractions of a law enforcement career was the variety.

“You never knew what you were going to get,” Siebert said. “You could go to the same house five times and get a different issue every time.”

But Siebert said it’s time to move on from law enforcement. He announced his retirement as Quincy Police Chief last week; Feb. 15 is his last day at the QPD. The Quincy City Council is scheduled to select an interim chief at its Feb. 7 meeting.

He’s taking a new job with the Grant County PUD in the emergency management department, he said.

Siebert said he was planning to retire from law enforcement in 2023 regardless, in part due to retirement rules, in part because he’s been a cop a long time.

“I’m not really tired (of the job), although being a chief wears you down. The average time a chief is in that position is three to five years. It’s a lot of stress. Not that I’m worn down, but overall, from the time I started at the jail to now is a little over 29 years.”

He started working at the Grant County Jail in January 1994, he said, becoming a patrol deputy in 1996. The GCSO offers its deputies training opportunities and Siebert took advantage of them, working as part of the Tactical Response Team, the off-road vehicle unit, as a backup marine officer. He worked his way up through the department, being promoted to sergeant, then corporal, then lieutenant.

“I was a training officer,” he said. “I was an instructor in different disciplines. As a sergeant I ran special operations, which is (off-road vehicle), marine, sex offender addressing stuff, the Gorge Amphitheater. Then I was promoted to lieutenant over patrol. And then I got hired here in Quincy as the chief. December 1, 2017.

“And I’ve done so many different things in law enforcement, little segues where I went off and I branched out. I learned so much,” he said. “But I think at the end of the day, the most important thing was the relationships I’ve built with people. Both those inside law enforcement and outside law enforcement. It’s been a good run. A very good run.”

Siebert said it meant a lot to be hired as the chief in Quincy.

“I grew up here in Quincy,” he said “I graduated from high school here. So being the chief here - one, it never happens, or it doesn’t usually happen. To me, it was kind of like a dream come true. Come home again.”

Siebert said he thinks he is leaving the department in a better place than he found it.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “And it’s not a me thing.”

He encouraged his officers to get out into the community, he said.

“All I really did was change the philosophy here, value the people that were here. And of course then we started getting involved in the community, doing community events. That’s really what I did.”

Siebert said he believes it’s made a difference.

“We’re fully staffed. We got accredited. The morale is through the roof,” he said. “That’s what I want. So for me, did I leave it better? Yeah, I did.”

His new job at the PUD involves emergency management, not law enforcement, and Siebert said that made it attractive.

“I really didn’t want a job that was law enforcement related. I wanted to get out of that field,” he said.

“We’ll be helping develop a continuity of operations plan, emergency action plans, making sure the PUD is ready for different emergencies that may come. And make sure the personnel are trained up on it, that they know where to find the material,” he said.

A reception is planned for Feb. 15 at the QPD office.

“We’re going to have a going-away party at the PD. It’ll be emotional, I can tell you that. But I’m looking forward to the next chapter,” Siebert said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at education@columbiabasinherald.com.