McClure sworn in as Basin's new chief of police

By: 
Barbara Anne Greene

Kyle McClure was sworn in as the new chief of police at the March 25 Basin Town Council meeting.

McClure worked for the Big Horn County Sheriff’s office for 12 years. At one time he was the school resource officer for Big Horn County School District No. 4. He has been in law enforcement for 15 years.

Mayor CJ Duncan said that when the applicants were narrowed down he removed himself from the process, as he knew each of the finalists very well. This left the decision up to the four council members. The council unanimously recommended McClure for the chief position.

Councilperson Brent Godfrey is the police commissioner and is the liaison between the police department and the town council.

Councilperson Stuart DesRosier explained the process of the hiring. “The town council conducted a nationwide search to fill the chief's position; after receiving approximately 40 applications we narrowed it down to five interviews.  Between the time of notification and the actual interview, two of the candidates withdrew their applications; one took a job as U.S. Marshall the other found other work out of the area.

Because Mayor Duncan had personal connections with all three of the final candidates he chose to recuse himself from the process and the four town council men conducted the interviews as a committee headed by Mr. Godfrey.  We as the council were all very impressed with Chief McClure's resume, his commitment to community policing and his understanding of our community.  Chief McClure was unanimously chosen for his position and we are happy (and lucky) to have him come to work protecting and serving our town.”

McClure is married to Malia. They have three children: Hailee, Alison and Kenneth. His mom, Ann Daly, is a Basin resident. All of them were at the swearing-in ceremony.

McClure’s first day as chief was March 29. With the recent retirement of Sgt. Greg Hess, McClure said one of his priorities will be to get the department up to capacity. Currently TJ VanderPloeg and McClure are the only two officers. He said he will work diligently to hire two more and will start advertising for the sergeant position immediately. McClure noted that he will be working closely with Godfrey on incentives to attract officers to Basin.

Some of McClure’s priorities, in addition to staffing, are working with the community to make sure Basin continues to be a good place to live safe and happy and to develop a program for kids to be more engaged in the community. He has already started a Basin Police Department Facebook page.

McClure encourages citizens to reach out to him. He has an open door policy and wants to hear concerns, questions or suggestions.