Maumelle Police Chief Cory Pickard has all the markings of a leader. It’s a quality honed through decades of police work, volunteer firefighting and military service, and even from his days in high school ROTC.
But for all that, it can be hard to tell the soft-spoken chief from his patrolmen, given Pickard’s regular habit of wearing a police uniform to work. It’s one way he stays connected to his roots on the street and to the men and women under his command, he said.
“Part of me is still one of the guys,” Pickard said, tugging at the unfamiliar necktie he’s donned for the interview. “I’m very fortunate to have a very tight-knit agency, one that treats each other like family. Just like any family, you have disagreements, but we all have the same goal, which is this community and protecting it.
“I still go out when we serve warrants. I still am on the team that goes out so that I can see what’s going on and I trust their decisions. I’m part of it, and it gives me a sense of ownership. If you don’t have a sense of ownership of the department and of your community, I don’t think you’re doing yourself any favors.”
As long as he can remember, Pickard said, he’s had a desire to serve others. Some of that might have been the influence of his environment: Adopted by his paternal grandparents, he attended parochial school in North Little Rock and Little Rock Catholic High School, where service to others was underscored constantly.
“I always had kind of a drive to do something,” he said. “At Catholic High, I was part of the ROTC program, and they instilled a service orientation, and I really enjoyed that.
“At the age of 18, I was a volunteer fireman on the Sherwood Fire Department. I liked fighting fires, but I did a ride-along with a Sherwood police officer, and after that, I was hooked. I had a lot of respect for them and what they were doing.”
Shortly after graduating from high school, Pickard began his career of service by joining the Arkansas National Guard in 1996, a stint that would run a decade and include deployment to Iraq with the 39th Infantry Brigade as part of the
1st Cavalry Division from 2003 to 2005. He completed the police training academy in Camden simultaneously with his military service and was hired by the Maumelle Police Department in 1999.
“I happened to apply here just as a dispatcher to kind of get my foot in the door,” Pickard said. “When I was applying, I had a couple of friends applying, and it was kind of hard to get on the Police Department. I ended up getting a call back, saying, ‘Hey, do you want dispatch or police-patrol side?’
“‘Well, that’s a no-brainer.’ I think those were my exact words. ‘I want to be out on the street.’”
He steadily worked his way through the ranks of the department, with experience as a patrol sergeant, a canine handler and a member of the tactical team, and in professional standards and the training division, where he served as firearms and Taser instructor, all of which made him a compelling candidate for chief.
“Chief Pickard has demonstrated passion and professionalism in his many years as a Maumelle police officer,” Maumelle Mayor Caleb Norris said. “Being chief of police is a huge responsibility, but Cory’s love for this community, his family and his fellow officers were just a few of the strengths needed for success.”
Pickard had attained the rank of captain when he was selected to replace the retiring Sam Williams last September, a move that Williams wholeheartedly endorses. He said he saw leadership potential written all over his successor, and he wasn’t alone in that, which has, in part, allowed Pickard to get off to such a positive start.
“Cory’s just a great leader. He is absolutely a servant leader,” Williams said. “People want to follow people that they have confidence in, people they look at and say, ‘This guy knows what he’s doing,’ and they know that he has their best interests at heart. He’s not the kind who’s going to be haphazard. I think if you care about people and you care about the outcome and care about them personally, it shows.
“I also think it helps your decision-making. You’re not making decisions for people you don’t know and have very little interest in the outcome. You’re making decisions for people you see every day and you love and respect.”
Pickard is similarly effusive in his praise for Williams as a leader of the department and as a mentor.
“One of the things that Sam did that I really appreciate is building up the investigation side of the house and still allowing me, as the patrol commander back in the day, to build my side,” he said. “He had a good balance, and I’m hoping to continue that and be like that.
“One thing that I did learn from Sam, and that I will always carry, is always be prepared to do or have done anything that you ask of your officers or the people under you. As long as you’re willing to do that, I think they will follow you anywhere.”
Having said that, Pickard admits to some decided differences in his style and that of his long-serving predecessor — that uniform, for one thing.
“I come from a patrol background more than the investigation side,” he said. “So where Sam would come in and wear civilian clothes, I typically will come in in uniform. That’s a huge difference. I come from patrol and a military background, and I have a different bearing and a different way.
“Sam was also a very personable guy, and I learned a lot from him on that. I wouldn’t say I’m not as outgoing, but I’m not as eloquent as Sam is.”
Pickard said the future of the 48-person department — 38 of them sworn officers, including him — has its share of challenges, from hiring new personnel to keeping up with technology and finding new ways to improve through training.
“This is a skilled job. People don’t realize that at times, and a lot of it comes from on-the-job training. We’re doing ourselves and our citizens a great disservice if we don’t train our guys to the highest standard that we can,” Pickard said.
“Having been to Iraq and been in combat, assigned to an infantry platoon, there were some things that I learned there that I thought could be brought back to the Police Department,” he said.
“One of the things we do when we go to firearms training — we have the officers running or doing physical exertion to mimic as best we can those situations that happen when everything hits the fan,” Pickard said. “That way, they can understand their limitations better. They can understand how their bodies are going to react and, hopefully, make better decisions so that we don’t end up in a bad situation.
“Here in 2020, we’re going to start doing some scenario-based training, taking some of our old incidents that we’ve had that we can improve upon. I think that’s one of the best training aids we could ever do, is to take what we have done right, what we’ve done wrong and bring them back to it and revamp it.”
Pickard has personal motivations for seeing these training initiatives succeed — creating a safer community for his own family. He and his wife, Ashley, have three sons: Harley, 12; Avery, 9; and Landry, 3. Pickard’s conspicuous role as a father also helps connect him to the community on yet another level.
“People stop me all the time, and we’ll talk,” he said. “I don’t believe there is a standoffishness of our police officers or myself. So if I’m walking in Kroger, and somebody feels they can go talk to the chief or this officer or this captain, then I believe that really benefits us.
“One thing that we strive to protect is that sense of community and that sense of we are part of this community. That makes a huge difference.”