Langley Police Chief Dave Marks honored for first decade of service

Langley Police Chief Dave Marks was honored by the city for a decade of service to the Village by the Sea during Monday’s city council meeting.

Langley Police Chief Dave Marks was honored by the city for a decade of service to the Village by the Sea during Monday’s city council meeting.

Marks started as an officer 10 years ago. He was hired as the new police chief after briefly serving as the interim chief in June 2014.

Since taking over, he has continued the city’s emphasis on community policing. That’s meant more warnings than tickets, and more conversations than handcuffs.

But his tenure has also been marred by turnover in the department. One of his first hires, Mitch Hardin, had his employment terminated and the legality of that decision has kept city officials involved in court proceedings since late 2014. Other hires by Marks were also short-lived, with former officer Michael Beech resigning after only seven months on the job. He was replaced by Tim Black, who resigned after less than a year with the department in late 2015.

Marks, as a working police chief who still chases criminals and walks a beat, has had several illustrious and infamous run-ins. In 2008, a man stuck his thumbs in Marks’s eyes while he was being apprehended. In 2013, his Achilles tendon tore while in a foot pursuit of a burglar whom he jokingly referred to a his “arch nemesis.”