Spring City hires Kyle Adams

as new police chief

 

By Rhett Wilkinson

Staff writer

2-10-2021

 

SPRING CITY—Kyle Adams favorite show on Netflix is “Longmire,” a series about a sheriff of a rural county in Wyoming.

Now that Adams is the police chief of Spring City, Adams can very much now live out what he enjoys seeing on-screen.

In fact, it was Adams’ dream to work in a small town.

“I am not a big-city guy,” Adams said, stating he enjoys “the Mayberry lifestyle.”

Adams was sworn in Thursday at Spring City’s council meeting as the city’s new police chief. He started work for the city Monday.

“I’m excited about it,” Adams said. “I live just outside of town and I am excited to serve the citizens of Spring City in the community where I live.”

Adams lives in Spring City now, after living just across U.S. 89 in Chester. After he moved, he tried to get into the city’s force even on a volunteer basis and he hoped to be the chief of the city. Adams was interested in the small-town position since he worked for the sheriff’s office.

“I get to be the only guy,” Adams said.

Adams was formerly the Snow College public safety officer and police sergeant after joining Snow in 2019. If he can, Adams will still help with events at Snow and the like, but initially, he will be focused on getting acclimated with Spring City, he said.

The event in Adams’ career that made the biggest impact on him was while he was with the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office (as a patrol deputy) from 2016 to 2019. He helped save the life of a man who was lost for days on a mountain. For his efforts, Adams was a recipient of KSL’s “Beyond the Badge” award.

Adams has also worked for Central Utah Correctional Facilities from 2012 to 2016 as a correctional officer.

Adams is married to Kara Adams, who is a day care provider and takes care of the Adams’ five children.

Adams said he most looks forward to broadening his skills, working with Spring City citizens and acclimating himself with the town.

Adams thinks that Spring City Mayor Cynthia DeGrey and the Spring City council are “awesome.” He has had a handful of conversations with DeGrey.

“They’ve been more than accommodating,” Adams said.

Kara has cancer, so Adams needs insurance that covers her medical treatments. DeGrey called the Public Employee Health Program for insurance.

And if DeGrey couldn’t provide that insurance, the city was going to pay COBRA so it could provide the insurance that was no longer provided to the Adams.

“It’s something that I didn’t expect at all,” Adams said. “They’ve been awesome and I haven’t even started yet.”

If people see Adams out and about, Adams wants them to stop him and say hello.

“I’m a very people-oriented person,” he said.

Adams has had multiple people thank him after issuing them a citation or taking them to jail, he said. Someone even wrote a letter saying “thank you for doing your job” after Adams issued them a citation.

Adams intends to spent time with elementary school students so they know that when they see him, they can go to him for help.

“I think if you are going to make an impact on the community, you start with the children … if you gain trust with the children, you will gain trust with the parents … you gain trust with the parents, you gain trust with the community,” Adams said. “And then you will make an impact hopefully curbing crime.”

Adams wants folks to seek his help, even if it’s mechanical help. (“I used to work in a shop,” Adams said.)

Adams said he is “nervous” about his new venture, saying that his predecessor Clarke Christensen was a police officer for 45 years.

“So I’m definitely not on the same level as he is,” Adams said.

Adams said that if there is something he can learn from Christensen, Adams will ask Christensen about it. And Christensen has expressed that he is willing to help with whatever Adams needs, he said.

“I will try to provide the service as he did to the best of my abilities, I guess with my spin off on things,” Adams said.

Adams wants to put an emphasis on “community policing” and “try to have an impact on the people in that way.” He said that he is the kind of person who will help an “old person” working in the yard if he can.

“I am not a city guy at all,” Adams said. “I drive an 80s truck … I’m stuck in the 80s … I should have been one of the cops driving a Ford Bronco, not a brand-new truck.”