A man with 30 years of law enforcement experience will be leading the Washington Police Department. The Washington City Council approved hiring Jim Lester to replace Greg Goodman when he retires next month. Lester is currently a sheriff’s deputy and emergency management coordinator in Wright County.

He also has volunteered on the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, and he plans to continue to work closely with schools on safety and security in Washington, “[I] took some training on peer-to-peer child pornography investigations, and some advanced internet training on those investigations. They’re very in depth, they take a lot of time, but you have a lot of reward from those in rescuing and saving children who are victims of internet predators.” In the last three years Lester says he’s had several cases go to the Federal level. He will be taking over the police chief role in May.