MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Town of Star City officially has its new police chief.
Jessica Colebank, a longtime police officer for Star City and the town of Granville, was sworn in by Star City Council Tuesday. Colebank, is Star City’s first ever female police chief to be sworn in the position and after over a decade of police work, she’ll now be the head of the department where she got her first start patrolling Morgantown area streets.
“I wanted to do this for a long time,” said Colebank after she was sworn in. “So I’m very excited to bring Star City forward to a new era, being the first female chief here is an accomplishment in itself,” she said.
Colebank, originally, got her first taste of law enforcement over a decade ago as an emergency dispatcher in Fairmont. She eventually worked further into the field in 2011, as a police officer for Star City, where she served the community for seven years, before she transferred to the Granville Police Department, where she worked for four years as a patrol officer. With the opportunity open for Colebank to return to a familiar community, it was an easy decision to take the job.
“I stepped away to Granville for four years, but we still worked closely together, so I’ve always kind of been around, just not here,” said Colebank on her work with Star City PD. “So it’s nice to come home,” she said.
With Colebank’s swear-in, she officially takes over for retiring Star City Police Chief Tom Varndell, who served over twenty years in the department, with five as chief. Varndell, oversaw Colebank’s work in the department which included her work on the infamous Skylar Neese murder case and kept communications with her when she transferred over to Granville PD in 2018. Her experience with the community, as well as her continued involvement with the department after she transferred, made her an easy person to name as Verndell’s replacement.
“She use to work here before, she’s familiar with the town, she’s familiar with the citizens, she’ll do a great job for the town,” said Varndell. “She is very well-rounded in her career, and I hope that she gets to last her twenty years here as well,” he said.
Even though the ink has just dried off for the new Star City Police Chief, Colebank hopes to improve community police relations while she serves in the position. This includes communications with WVU students on traffic patterns and speed limits, as well the encouragement of more applicants to serve in local law enforcement, which she stated is at a near all-time low. While she doesn’t expect overnight changes, Colebank hopes further community involvement with Star City PD while she serves as chief, will help not only make a better police department, but a better community as well.
“Getting that involvement with the community and giving police and law enforcement a positive light again, will hopefully bring in the applicants that want to do good and want to do this job well,” said Colebank.