Joe Strong named as Hoquiam Police Chief

There’s a new top cop in Hoquiam, and he has a number of officers who ranked up with him.

Joe Strong has been named as new Hoquiam Police Chief.

After serving as the Interim Chief since the retirement of former Chief Jeff Myers, Strong has now officially been appointed to the role and said he plans to continue the work already put in place.

Strong’s appointment from Mayor Winkelman received full support from the Hoquiam City Council.

Myers joined the Zoom council meeting to witness Strong take the role, as well as see additional promotions.

With Strong moving from the Deputy and Interim Chief role to the lead, and the change to the Hoquiam Police command structure, it meant that a number of officers are entering new positions.

Strong spoke during the meeting saying that these moves will shape the future of the department.

On Monday, two officers in Jeff Salstrom and Brian Dayton officially received the rank of Lieutenant under Strong, replacing the Deputy Chief role with the two-person position under Police Chief.

In addition, more officers have been moved up in their roles. David Peterson, Jerad Spaur, and Rob Verboomen were all named as Sergeants.

All officers at the meeting received their official pinning of the badge by family members.