Preston’s new Chief of Police was officially sworn in Monday night during Preston City’s council meeting.

Dan McCammon has been with the department for almost 15 years. He said residents in Preston are very supportive of the police department and he is excited for the new position.

“There’s not a whole lot of negativity here,” McCammon said. “It’s just a wonderful place to live.”

Chief McCammon said Preston is a small community with quality people and little crime, but it has challenges just like any other city.

“We have the big crimes and big cases here,” he said, “but thank goodness they don’t come very often.”

“We have a great police department, we have a great sheriff’s department and we work well with the citizens.” McCammon added, “Our biggest challenge is keeping the kids safe, getting drugs out of our community and reducing the ability for people to have drugs in our community.”

Preston City Councilman Brad Wall said McCammon came highly recommended by the outgoing police chief, Mike Peterson, who is leaving the department to work in the private sector.

“The council likes the work that Dan has done for the city over all these years as a police officer,” said Wall. “We feel like he is the best option for us as our police chief.”

McCammon is also a firearms instructor, Taser instructor, and breath testing specialist for the department.

As one of Chief McCammon’s first official duties Monday night, he promoted Officer Cuyler Stoker to the rank of Sergeant and swore in new officer Carter Knudsen.

“I think the whole department is excited for it because it brought some new blood into the department,” said McCammon. “I think it will be a good thing for the department.”

The previous police chief, Mike Peterson, left the force to work in the private sector for BanCorp after being the chief since November 2017.