Dana Powers has only been the Police Chief in Bonney Lake for a week or so, but there are already changes being made.

The most notable change is to the chief’s office at the Public Safety Building. Powers has not only re-painted the office and added memorabilia from life and career, but re-arranged the room, altering the angle of the desk and placing it closer to the door.

Powers said the desk shift allows her to see more people in the hallways and leads to more interaction with her fellow officers and detectives.

“I can’t just sit here and not interact with others,” she said from her new office the morning after being officially sworn in as the city’s interim police chief.

It was that same desire to be involved, to be where the action is that set Powers on her career in police work more than 20 years ago.

“It just seemed to fit my personality,” she said of work that changes  everyday and role that was more than just a cog in a machine. “I just wanted to be a part of it.”

Powers, 46, grew up in the Bonney Lake area and attended Sumner High School before transferring to Wilson in Tacoma before her junior year.

“I always really considered this home still,” she said.

A champion swimmer, Powers received a scholarship to Nebraska, where she was a 16-time All-American and helped the team to three straight Big 8 championships in the mid-80s. Powers even competed in the 1984 Olympic trials, finishing just a foot behind the eventual gold medal winner, though, she jokes, within that foot there were 16 other swimmers.

Though she went to school to study journalism, Powers said her brother was in law enforcement at the time and her then-fiance was studying criminal justice and she took an interest in the career herself because it seemed more exciting than her path.

In 1989, Powers got her first law enforcement job as a corrections officer in Kent. Three months later she was hired as a full-time officer in Tacoma.

In 1992 when a job in Bonney Lake came open, Powers moved back to her home department, where she said she seemed to “fit” better.

Powers said the Bonney Lake department offered her more opportunities for new projects and to try new things, as well as to help start new programs for the community.

“Compared to Tacoma, there wasn’t as much activity,” she remembered. “But what was exciting and fun about here was I had the latitude to start and work different projects.”

During her run with Bonney Lake, Powers was instrumental in starting the city’s Marine Services Unit, was part of the first Special Response Team (that eventually became part of the Pierce County Metro SWAT) and served as the city’s DARE officer in the 1990s.

Powers said working in the MSU and DARE program gave her the opportunity to work in the community in a positive manner and connect with kids and families to make a difference in their lives, something she feels is at the crux of what police should be doing.

“It’s not always a positive conversation, but I try to make it a positive conversation by the end,” she said. “I think that’s what the police department is.”

Powers worked her way into a full time investigations position and soon helped start the Crime Response Unit, a multi-jurisdictional group designed to support smaller departments during large investigations.

“You run out of bodies quick doing investigations,” Powers said.

In 2008, Powers continued her rise through the ranks and was named assistant chief under now-retired Chief Mike Mitchell. Working with Mitchell, Powers got her first taste of department management and began to learn the ropes of the chief’s position.

“As a No. 2, your job is to make the chief’s job easier,” she said.

When Mitchell announced his retirement this year, Mayor Neil Johnson selected Powers to take over. She was appointed interim chief, which does not require confirmation from the city council, with the idea that after a year both Powers and the city would review her time leading the department, though the mayor has said it is his intention to make Powers the permanent chief at year’s end.

Powers said her time with the department and the ability to work on many different cases and units within the department helped prepare her for her new role.

“I’ve done basically every job we have to do here so I understand it,” she said.

She also said that as chief, she can continue to do all of the various roles and aspects of police work she enjoys, as well as help her fellow officers do their jobs.

“I love a good investigation and I can still be involved with that,” she said.

But Powers said she realizes the role of chief is different from even that of the assistant chief because of the additional communication with the city council, staff and mayor, as well as the additional pressures of managing not just the department’s staff, but the budget as well.

“My job is definitely to make sure our budget is where it needs to be for the city,” she said.

Powers also said Bonney Lake has become a “destination department” and she wants to keep it that way.

“I want it to be fun and professional,” she said. “It’s a great job; it’s not always doom and gloom.”

Powers said her philosophy will be to “lead by example” and promote good communication throughout the department and with citizens. She expects consistency and accountability among her officers.

“The biggest thing about this job is you have to be truthful. That’s what this badge on your chest represents,” she said, adding that a department’s personality starts at the top. “If I don’t do it right, how do you expect everyone else to?”

Powers said aside from the office, which she said she is changing to reflect her personality, there are not many changes expected at the department, though her time working through the ranks with many of her fellow officers will give her the knowledge she needs to make sure the right people are in the right positions within the department, doing the jobs they most enjoy and are best at.

Powers said Bonney lake is seen around the region as a good department, but she knows there is even more to it than that.

“I know we have a great department and that’s my goal – become that great department,” she said.

“I like having fun in this job,” she said. “You have to be serious when you have to be serious, but you can also have fun when you’re doing the job.”