MOSCOW, Idaho — During Monday's legislative meeting, Moscow Mayor Art Bettge officially appointed Capt. Anthony Dahlinger as the next chief of police.
Dahlinger has been with the Moscow Police Department for more than 12 years, with 17 years of experience in law enforcement. During his time with the department, he's served as a patrol officer, patrol corporal, patrol sergeant captain and public information officer. In addition to his service with the police department, Dahlinger is also on the Board of the Latah Recovery Center.
"I was one of those kids that came up here for college and I just never left," Dahlinger told KREM 2 News. "I fell in love with the area and ended up putting down roots and started my career at the sheriff's office and here we are 22 years later."
Finding new ways to serve the community he loves is what inspired Dahlinger to become chief. But, he knows the job will have its challenges, the greatest being recruitment and retention.
"Our city continues to grow, our population continues to grow. With that potential, I'll be looking for adding more officers to the ranks as we continue to grow as a community," said Dahlinger.
Just over a year ago, four university of Idaho students were killed at their home in Moscow. As the public information officer, Dahlinger says the national attention was difficult for the agency and Moscow community.
"It was something that we weren't particularly prepared for," Dahlinger said. "No one suspected that story would evolve into what it did. Luckily, we had assistance from people who have much better training and experience in that realm to help us get through that, but it was it was a very trying time."
In spite of those difficulties, Dahlinger said the relationship between Moscow and its police department is strong.
"We're very lucky in this community," Dahlinger said. "We have a wonderfully diverse, supportive community here and we're sitting in this building because of that support. We've gone on two years now and this multimillion dollar facility will meet our needs well into the future and I can't thank the community enough."
Dahlinger's appointment will be made effective on May 1 following current chief James Fry's retirement on April 30.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.