As Chris Sutter rolls into work each day, he carries with him the critical law enforcement values of service, integrity, professionalism, accountability and compassion.

He’s been firmly on board with that mindset for the last 38 years during his policing career and is now implementing his vast and deep leadership skills and knowledge on the Mercer Island scene as the city’s new police chief.

Sutter takes the Island reins from chief Ed Holmes, who retired in June after logging three decades of service on the Island, including the last 18 of them as chief.

Before his family, a host of city staffers and some councilmembers, Sutter was sworn into his new role by Mercer Island Mayor Salim Nice on the afternoon of July 24 in the council chambers at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center.

The new Island chief began his law enforcement career in 1986 as deputy chief of the Kern County Sheriff’s Department in southern California and later worked at the Bakersfield City Police Department, the Vancouver Police Department in Washington and the Tulalip Tribal Police Department. Sutter’s previous experience includes 24 years in command and chief-level roles, having served as a chief of police, assistant chief, division commander, administration commander and detective. His management and field experience includes patrol, investigations, special operations, administration, professional standards, finance and logistics and regional task forces.

“Treat people with respect, and then treat each other with respect — support our coworkers, and support the mission, and live by the values of the department,” Sutter told the Reporter of his daily goals. “Being a values-driven organization and a values-driven officer, I think it’s very possible to have a long and successful and very meaningful career in law enforcement.”

Following is a question-and-answer session with Sutter that the Reporter conducted following his swearing-in ceremony:

What drew you toward a career in law enforcement at that early age?

Growing up, I had several positive role models and mentors as a youth in the area where I lived. Quite a few men in our community worked either for the FBI or various law enforcement agencies. So I think that might have been an influence. But I’ve always had a strong passion for service and for helping people. And I think if I was not a police officer, I would be in some other service-related profession. I truly enjoy working with people and solving problems and trying to help people.

What do you hope to achieve in your role here?

First and foremost, it’s all about service. As police organizations and police staff, we exist to serve the community, and we want to maintain the highest level of trust with the community. We do that through transparency and accountability and professionalism. What I hope to accomplish, though, is continuing the great work that’s already happening at the Mercer Island Police Department and connecting with the community to further understand what (its) needs may be.

Crime trends do change. Six years ago, most people in this country didn’t know what fentanyl was. Now, obviously, we’ve lived through a fentanyl epidemic, which takes over 100,000 lives a year. We have to be adaptable and flexible to address changing crime trends as they occur in our communities. So staying connected and staying focused on our mission, which is to prevent and reduce crime and enhance livability and safety for the community is our primary goal. That will be my focus.

What have been some highlights for you in your law enforcement career and some of the challenges that you’ve had to overcome?

I have been in leadership positions for over 24 years. And some of the challenges have been leading through a COVID epidemic and maintaining a 24/7 mission-ready workforce when everybody else in society was harboring safely at home to avoid an epidemic. That was challenging to deploy police officers into the field and do our best to manage the inherent risks of COVID that (were) presented by having contact with others. I’ve led through facilities changes and design and construction of facilities, and I know that that’s an opportunity and a challenge at times.

Some of the highlights and positives, though, have been throughout my career, I’ve been a crisis hostage negotiator. I’ve been an FTO (field training officer) sergeant, a field training officer, mounted patrol officer, a detective, a supervisor over many areas of the department, then commander over all the areas of the department, both administration and operations and special operations.

I think that the greatest satisfaction I’ve received is when you help out a citizen or somebody on the worst day of their life. At the end of the contact, they say, ‘Thank you,’ or they come up and give you a big hug. Or a month later, they see you somewhere, and they come up and say, ‘Thank you, you cared about me on that worst day of my life.’ And that’s the intrinsic things that drive me to want to do better as a police officer. But I still love getting up every day and putting on my police uniform and going to work. I find it a joy and it brings me happiness to do this work.

What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever been given throughout your career and life?

I have a lot of advice. Before I hire people, I always have a chief’s interview. That’s an opportunity for me to sit down one-on-one with a new police officer or a new professional staff member and just impart some of my learned experiences over my long career in law enforcement. The No. 1 advice I give people is treat everyone the way you would want a member of your family to be treated, and with respect, and dignity, and compassion.

I also want that when we complete contact with a citizen, whether it’s assisting them or even arresting them, I want that to be as positive as possible. And many times, I’ve taken people to jail personally, where when I get to the booking area, they stop and shake my hand and say, ‘Thank you, Officer Sutter, for treating me so well.’ And they do appreciate it.

What drew you toward the Mercer Island job?

Well, this was a very selective opportunity for me in that I was not looking for other police chief positions in Washington state, but just the reputation of Mercer Island. I’ve known Chief Holmes and of his great work and the caliber of the department. And Mercer Island has a very positive reputation statewide as a community and as a police department. And so the opportunity to work and live here was just, I think, a really good fit for us at this time.

* Islanders can get to know Sutter at a meet-the-chief ice cream social on National Night Out from 5-8 p.m. on Aug. 6 at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center.