New public safety director leads Palmer response teams

PALMER — Jonathan Owen, who was appointed recently as public safety director for Palmer, says it was probably a bullet to his leg that brought him to Alaska.

The bullet came in Dallas, where he started his law enforcement career, when he was shot responding to a 1991 domestic violence call. The suspect was off his medications and officers were calling for backup, as it was clear the man was not in his right mind.

“So we came in the living room and we were backing up this sergeant who was slight of build, and this suspect picked that sergeant up, shook him like a rag doll, carried him backward into the bedroom where they fell on the bed, fighting,” Owen said.

The man got hold of the sergeant’s sidearm and cranked off a round, which struck Owen’s right leg, severing an artery. Owen said his partner pulled out his Beretta. Owen could see the hammer pulling back. But someone said, “Wait.”

Another officer had seen that a spent shell casing had jammed in the suspect’s pistol and he couldn’t fire again.

“A lot of people think that officers are trigger-happy, but that was a fine example of officers who did not take justice into their own hands,” Owen said.

In 1993, Owen left Texas for Alaska. He and his wife wanted to be some place more safe, so he signed on with the North Slope Borough Police Department, where his brother was working. Owen stayed there for 11 years, attaining the rank of lieutenant in charge of the department’s daily operations.

He left the department in 2004 when his brother, then living on the road system, got lymphoma, which brought Owen to Palmer to be at hand for his brother.

But after some time he began missing being around the cop shop.

Palmer Police Chief George R. Boatright said he hired Owen to fill an open evidence technician position.

The salary for the job, considering Owen’s experience, “was probably chicken feed,” the chief said.

But Owen stayed on, put the evidence room in order and moved on to oversee the training of city employees on the National Incident Management System. Having certain staff members trained on the system is a requirement for many federal grants, Owen said.

Now Owen is Boatright’s boss. His new position of public safety director was created to oversee the Palmer police and fire departments.

“I think he’s a good fit for it,” Boatright said. “He’s going to be here for eight to 10 years. He’ll be able to see it through a lot more than I would be.”

Owen’s new boss, Palmer City Manager Bill Allen, said he interviewed both Boatright and Palmer Fire Chief Dan Contini for the job.

“It was my decision to hire an administrator as opposed to someone who was totally educated or had expertise in fire or police,” Allen said. “And even though Jon comes from the police side of public safety, as I say, he’s a quick learn.”

And he has a good tutor, Allen said.

“They don’t come any better than chief Contini where fire is concerned,” he said.

Allen said Owen will also be tasked with assessing risk for the city, making sure buildings and practices aren’t leaving the city exposed to lawsuits.

Owen said he has always been drawn to both police and fire work. His two favorite uncles were firefighters in Birmingham, Ala., and retired as captains.

Now he’s thrilled to have a chance to work with both areas of public safety response and enforcement.

Allen said with Owen in place Contini and Boatright will be free to do more day-to-day operational work for their departments.

“I want them working in their areas of expertise and increasing efficiencies, leaving the paperwork to an administrator,” Allen said.

Instead of two chiefs reporting to Allen there will be one.

“This consolidation was not anything that requires a great deal of intelligence on my part,” Allen said. “It’s just something that’s obvious that needs to be done.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.