CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The police chief at Charleston’s Yeager Airport is returning to his old job.
Yeager Police Chief Joe Crawford will leave the airport next week to become the police chief at the St. Albans Police Department.
Crawford served 24 years in St. Albans and retired in 2011. The last five years he served as the police chief. He was hired at Yeager in 2015.
“It was a very tough decision,” Crawford said after the airport board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
St. Albans Mayor-Elect Scott James, who Crawford has known for years, asked him to come back to lead the department.
“He’s looking at doing some things and stuff that he wanted me to help him with. Pretty much, that’s what it boiled down to is being able to help him do some things that he wants to get done,” Crawford said. “It’s bittersweet.”
Wednesday was Crawford’s last airport board meeting.
He said he’s learned a lot from working at the airport compared to working on the streets.
“It’s more friendly,” Crawford said. “It’s different from answering 911 calls out on the road, but that probably the big difference is the environment and what you’re tasked to do with up here.”
Yeager officials are conducting a search process and hope to make a new hire within the next week, Crawford said.
He starts the new job July 5.