October 13th, 2025 by WCBC Radio

Chief Jim Pyles may just be starting his new position as Cumberland’s top officer, but he has had enough experience in law enforcement to know that something repeated is something important.  Pyles spoke to WCBC about priorities he has for the police department, one of which he has heard of problems with time and again…

   

“I’ve heard three things over and over – the downtown mall, the downtown mall, and the downtown mall.”

The chief says he is already putting methods together to deal with issues in that area…

   

“Problem-oriented policing. 80% of the crimes are committed by 20% of the people. If we take that 20% of the people off the streets, then that reduces 80% of the crime. All of our crime – the majority of our crime, is drug addiction, drug-related crimes, property crimes.”