Overland Park names its new police chief, the first woman to lead the department
Overland Park has named Doreen Jokerst, leader of the University of Colorado Boulder Police Department, as its next police chief. She will be the first woman to run the department.
Jokerst, who has served for six years as the assistant vice chancellor for public safety and chief of police overseeing the Boulder campus, will replace former Overland Park police chief Frank Donchez, who resigned last year. The city spent several months conducting a national search for a new leader for the department, which included hearing from community organizations and neighborhood groups.
“Doreen brings vast experience to our team, with service and expertise in a variety of policing roles. She is a lifelong learner and leader in modern, progressive community policing practices,” City Manager Lori Curtis Luther said. “I am confident her leadership and focus on inclusivity will improve our department, and our community, in the future.”
Jokerst and her family will live in Overland Park, according to a city news release. Her first day will be in October.
Under Jokerst’s leadership, the CU Boulder Police Department became the first local police department in Boulder County to gain national accreditation. Jokerst was named chief of the department in 2018.
At the university, she oversaw a staff of more than 40 sworn personnel and 60 civilians, according to a university news release announcing her appointment at the time.
Jokerst will lead a much larger department in Overland Park, with 330 full-time employees, including 280 sworn officers.
“Overland Park is an outstanding city with a premier police department, and I’m excited to work collaboratively with the community and all members of the organization,” Jokerst said in the release. “I am eager to begin working with our officers and the community, and to call Overland Park home.”
Prior to serving at the university, Jokerst spent nearly 20 years at the Parker Police Department in Colorado, where she rose to the rank of commander, according to the release. She holds a Doctor of Education degree in Leadership for Educational Equity, Higher Education, a master’s degree in psychology and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
Jokerst will take over the Overland Park Polie Department following a shaky exit from Donchez. City officials previously told The Star that Luther was preparing to fire Donchez when he submitted his resignation. That move came as Luther considered a “heated” conversation between Donchez and Sheila Albers — the mother of a teenager who was killed by an officer — to be “inappropriate and grounds for termination.”
Donchez at the time contradicted the city’s telling of what happened in an interview with The Washington Post, which quoted him saying he resigned for personal reasons. He said that he was not forced to resign and that he left because of family matters, rather than because of the exchange with Albers.
Donchez’s resignation came about a year after Luther took over as city manager.
“Basic empathy and progressive policing policies are essential for any police chief in Overland Park,” Luther said in a statement to The Star at the time.
Tensions were already building for several months before that, after four Overland Park police officers were placed on administrative leave over allegations that they misused charity funds. Eighteen months after the officers were put on leave, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced his office would not pursue criminal charges, despite evidence the officers violated the charity’s bylaws regarding self-enrichment.
The four officers resigned late last year.
