For Immediate Release
Aug. 22, 2000
Contact: Rusty Cheuvront (502)564-2611 or
  Terry Sebastian (502)564-7554 

Governor Appoints Ishmon Burks State Police Commissioner

FRANKFORT – Governor Paul E. Patton named a retired military officer and current Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Louisville’s Spalding University to head the Kentucky State Police today at a news conference at the Capitol. With this appointment, Ishmon Burks becomes the first African-American commissioner of the state’s premiere law enforcement agency.

“The thing that impresses me most about our new commissioner is that he has a visionary plan to advance this agency. He told me he wanted to strengthen the KSP with aggressive recruitment and energize morale to a new level,” Governor Patton said. “He wants to make sure KSP reaches its goal of being the most efficient and effective law enforcement agency in the nation.”

Burks, a native Kentuckian, is a retired colonel in the United States Army. He holds degrees in education and criminology, and his distinguished military and civic accomplishments include serving as acting inspector general for military police units in Europe, commanding a 900-member military police force in seven European communities, and heading up military police assignments worldwide. He was also Battalian Commander for the military police training school at Ft. McClellan, as well as being selected for the Criminal Investigation Brigade command.

Governor Patton and Justice Cabinet Secretary Robert F. Stephens began a search for a KSP commissioner last year after determining that civilian leadership would best serve the agency.

“Ishmon’s military background gives him the solid base he needs to work within a large organization that must stay focused on each and every employee,” Governor Patton said. “And his positive outlook on state government and this administration assures us that we’re getting the best man for the job.”

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