Arkansas State Police Capt. Mike Hagar will be nominated by Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the next secretary of the state Department of Public Safety and appointed as director of the Division of Arkansas State Police, Sanders announced on Monday.
She also disclosed that Department of Public Safety Secretary A.J. Gary has agreed to continue as director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. He currently serves in both roles.
Division of Arkansas State Police Director Col. Bill Bryant will retire Dec. 31, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said afterward.
Hagar is Sanders' first announced appointment to her administration's Cabinet. The Arkansas Department of Public Safety includes the Division of Arkansas State Police, Division of Emergency Management, Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training, Crime Information Center, Crime Laboratory, Crime Victims Reparations Board and Fire Prevention Commission, according to the department's website.
He has more than 26 years of service with the Arkansas State Police and is the captain of Troop A, Highway Patrol Division, the largest field command in the state, according to Sanders' news release. As Troop A captain, he oversees a staff of more than 70 commissioned and noncommissioned employees and coordinates with other law enforcement agencies.
Sanders, a Little Rock Republican, said her first Cabinet appointment of Hagar would address some public safety concerns that she has for the state.
Her campaign's first policy rollout was a public safety plan to address what it described as the out-of-control crime in cities, including Little Rock, and "we cannot allow that to continue," she said at a news conference at the Arkansas State University System office in Little Rock.
Sanders said she wants to ensure the next Department of Public Safety secretary understands the needs of law enforcement and has the respect of law enforcement, and Hagar has spent his entire career working for the Arkansas State Police.
"I am so excited for his willingness to take this role on," she said. "I know he will do an incredible job in this role, making sure that the morale of the men and women of state police is at a high, making sure that they have the resources, and the training and the respect that they need to do their job because, frankly, our entire state depends on it."
Hagar said Sanders repeatedly said during her campaign that she wants to build a safer and stronger Arkansas and "I am passionate about that cause as well.
"I could not be more honored that she chose me in this role to work towards that," he said.
Hagar said recruiting and retention "is going to be a big deal" for the Arkansas State Police and "it is something we need to focus on.
"We need to be competitive not only with the other agencies in the state, but surrounding states, so yes we need more money," he said.
In the Legislature's fiscal session earlier this year, the Legislature and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson authorized significant raises for Arkansas state troopers in the fiscal year that started July 1.
Sanders said Gary "will continue to do a phenomenal job and make sure that Arkansas is prepared for whatever comes at us," as director of the Division of Emergency Management in her administration.
She said Gary has spent a lifetime in service, both as a member of law enforcement and serving as director of the Division of Emergency Management and acting secretary of the Department of Public Safety since August.
Gary thanked Sanders for asking him to continue to work at the Division of Emergency Management, where has worked for the past six years. He is a retired police chief who served more than 28 years with the Conway Police Department.
Hagar's current salary is $111,456 a year and Bryant's salary is $172,094 a year, according to the Arkansas Transparency website. Gary's current salary is $167,095 a year.
Hagar's and Gary's salaries in the Sanders administration haven't been determined yet, said Sanders spokesman Judd Deere.
During her successful campaign for governor, Sanders proposed a public safety plan that says the state "must be prepared to devote the necessary resources to increase prison capacity to allow for the retention of violent, repeat offenders and to reduce the backlog in our county jails." As part of this plan, she proposed enacting what she described as smart, targeted Truth in Sentencing legislation aimed at ensuring violent repeat offenders are not allowed back into communities.
The proposed legislation would require that, if an inmate is out on parole and commits another crime, the criminal must go back and serve the remainder of the original sentence, to be run consecutive to the new sentence, Sanders said during her campaign.
Her plan also calls for increasing mental health programming for inmates requiring those services in prison; supporting recruitment efforts of additional law enforcement officers across the state and tangible investment in training and additional resources, including overtime; and enacting a victim's bill of rights to ensure people victimized by crime have basic protections under the law.
Sanders is scheduled to be sworn in as governor Jan. 10, succeeding the term-limited Hutchinson. Hutchinson has served as governor since 2015 and has said he is considering running for president in 2024.
Sanders is the daughter of former Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee and a former White House press secretary for former President Donald Trump, who has announced his bid for president in 2024.