Paul Rockenbach, Whiteville’s new police chief is tired of cold weather.
“I’m super excited to be coming to Whiteville,” the former Columbus County homicide investigator said. “I’ve had my fill of minus thirty degree weather.”
Rockenbach spent much of the last two years in South Dakota as the chief of counterintelligence in the Office of Special Investigations at Ellsworth Air Force Base.
“I’m looking forward to coming to home and being part of a great community,” he said.
Rockenbach said he felt honored to be following retiring Chief Douglas Ipock.
“Look at everything he has done,” Rockenbach said. “He led the department to meet the CALEA standards (national accreditation for the WPD). That’s a major accomplishment. He has increased resources for the officers, making much better use of the available tech. The community knows him. Chief Ipock has been a leader for that department. I’m lucky to be able to follow him.”
Community impact is important to Rockenbach, he said.
“I like to think in terms of the Unity principle — you can’t spell community without ‘unity,’” he said. “I plan to walk the streets and get to know people. I want the officers to be spending even more time getting to know the people they interact with and getting to know them in a positive way. When people get to know their officers, they understand they can trust them, and that helps everyone involved.
“When we can work hand in hand with the community, the sky is the limit,” he said. “Whiteville already has the department, the experience, the leadership in the ranks. I hope to see even better things happen, because of the quality of people and what they have built with Chief Ipock.”
Rockenbach’s salary will be $80,000 per year. In addition to his time with the CCSO, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was director of Southeastern Community College’s Criminal Justice program, and was chief of police in Northwest. The new chief will technically be a department head for the police until his North Carolina in-service training certification is renewed, City Manager Darren Currie said.
“We’re looking forward to having him on board,” Currie said. “I’m please we are bringing a good man home.”
The new chief was the top applicant out of more than 20, Currie said, including some from the department. Rockenbach and his wife Allison have a three-year-old daughter. Mrs. Rockenbach left a career in the public schools as a popular educator to be a fulltime stay at home mother.
“I have a great wife, and she has supported me through this decision,” he said. “I really appreciate the opportunity to come back home and make a difference.”
The Pennsylvania native said he dealt with plenty of winter weather growing up, but nothing like the cold of the upper Midwest. Ironically, Rockenbach was hired on a record-breaking cold day here in Columbus County: while temperatures in Columbus dropped to the lower 20s, National Weather Service data showed Ellsworth was barely above 0 degrees Fahrenheit for part of that same day.
“I’m ready to get back down there and get back to work where it’s a little warmer,” he said.
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