By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Fairbury Police have a new Chief.

Mark Travis has been in his new position for about a week. He is an army veteran, and a former correctional officer and patrolman with two police departments. He’s a longtime Fairbury resident, graduating from Prairie Central in 1994. He says he’s been busy in his first week on the job and has plenty left to do.

“I’m looking at a lot of big things. Of course, it’s only been a week, but I have a lot of great ideas that I want to try to implement. I’ve always wanted to, as a department, be more connected to the public like some of our other agencies here in Fairbury are. I’ve slowly been speaking to the officers, letting them understand what my vision is, and at the same time, their vision of what they expect from me,” Travis said.

Travis became chief after Michael Frickey found he couldn’t return to duty due to health reasons.