New Naples police chief talks first week on the job

Naples Police Chief Ciro Dominguez wrapped up his first official week in a new role with the department.

Just within a few days, Dominguez has come across challenges.

Dominguez said his primary plan is to develop a culture of leadership where they make decisions together. He said it’s about looking at the big picture and balancing both what’s important to the public and the department.

Dominguez has 38 years of experience and gave 10 years of service to Naples PD after joining in 1982 and moving to other departments in the state. He said a lot has changed within the department since then, but he’s already learned a lot.

“What I’ve learned mostly is there’s so much talent here. Everyone in command staff is well educated. They all have a master’s degree, and they’re very invested in the agency, and as I get to meet more and more people across the agency, I keep learning their stories, and I want to hear about them,” Dominguez said.

WINK News asked Dominguez what were the challenges he’s faced so far.

“The challenge is time. We want to do a lot of stuff, and now it’s the real challenge: is how we do all the things that we want to do and how we lay them out,” Dominguez said.

The department aims to focus on traffic concerns and recruitment. Dominguez said they just graduated three people from the academy and plan to add four more in the near future.

Dominguez was asked about his plan.

“My primary plan is, overall, to really develop a culture of servant leadership, where when we make decisions, we take a very holistic approach on how it’s going to affect the working people here, and how we affect the citizens that both live here and travel here or visit here,” Dominguez said.

Chief Dominguez wants everyone to sit at the table and give their ideas on what they think they need. He said that next week, they’ll be discussing things like technology, equipment, personal development and crime prevention.