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Slayton originally wanted to be a detective, but his career took a different path. In 2016, he accepted an offer by then-Chief Shawn Butler to become a patrol lieutenant. Slayton was then bumped up to administrative lieutenant of planning and training in 2019, and on Thursday, he was sworn-in in front of a packed crowd at an Auburn City Council meeting to replace Butler, who has retired.

In an interview with мÓƶà¶à¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Friday, Slayton said taking on the planning and training role helped him learn about administrative duties from Butler and Deputy Chief Roger Anthony, who Slayton called "the best of the best." An Auburn High school graduate, Slayton spent his first 10 years with the department as a patrol officer, and then worked several years as a school resource officer in the Auburn Enlarged City School District.

Many of Slayton's family and friends were at Thursday's meeting for his swearing-in. He said the people in that room — and others who weren't able to make it — helped him get to this point. 

"This is not a job that you get because of what you do individually, it's collaboratively," he said. 

As Slayton collaborates with and leads the department into a new era, he has some goals in mind. One goal is implementing a body-worn camera policy and getting such cameras for officers. The agency is in the process of applying for a grant to pay for those. He said he believes this fits the APD's focus on transparency and that he's "confident in the men and women of this department and their professionalism."

Adding that the department interacts with people with addiction and mental health concerns, Slayton believes his team is empathetic to issues that individuals go through.

"We try to go above and beyond to get everybody the help that they need," he said. "So that's just another way that we can show what we're doing." 

If there is a personnel complaint about an officer, he continued, the APD would be able to look at footage to get accurate information about what transpired. 

Another one of Slayton's goals, he said, involves increased collaboration with other agencies, such as the county mobile crisis team with mental health professionals who can assist at mental health crisis scenes. He said the department has been working that team, which is available to work with the APD from 5 p.m. to midnight. The APD wishes to get that expanded to 24 hours a day.

Slayton believes greater use of the mobile crisis team will benefit all of the officers no matter what time they're working and will also benefit the public. When the mobile crisis team can take over a situation, more police officers can be available to respond to other calls.

Another thing the APD is working on, Slayton said, is revamping its evidence department. Re-organizing the department's evidence collection and storage is important because "it's kind of outdated.

"We're not utilizing the space, we're outgrowing the space, because we take on more evidence now than we ever have," he said. 

Officer Don Laraway is the APD's identification officer, who goes through the evidence for all of the department's cases. Reorganizing that space so Laraway no longer has to use two different floors for storage will make his job easier and help the department, Slayton said. 

Heading into the future, Slayton feels Butler "left me in a good position," and praised Anthony's leadership, as well. He feels they helped him prepare for administrative duties, so he feels "somewhat prepared, as opposed to Chief Butler handing me the keys and saying, 'Good luck.'"

Slayton spoke about the high standards of the police chief job, adding that he wants to balance the concerns of the department with the concerns of the community.

"Sometimes there's going to be days when the members (of the department) here may not agree with what I do, community wise. So it's that fine balance that you have between the two," he said. "But not every decision is going to be liked by everybody."

Slayton said he's comfortable speaking with residents, which he largely attributes to his experience as a school resource officer. He also said with his planning and training posts, officers communicated with him often from the recruitment phase to become full-fledged officers. There are 25 officers that have been brought on since he took that position that has gotten to  know. 

"The men and women (of the police department) know who they're getting. They know what to expect from me, they know what I will expect from them."