Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Friday the appointment of interim Kentucky State Police Commissioner, Col. Phillip Burnett Jr., as KSP’s permanent commissioner.
“I believe in Commissioner Burnett’s ability to lead KSP into the future,” Gov. Beshear said. “He is already working to increase recruitment and create a more diverse workforce, which is crucial to fulfilling our state’s law enforcement duties.”
During a ceremony at the Capitol, with his family in attendance, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Mary C. Noble swore in Burnett.
Burnett pledged to continue working with communities across the commonwealth to protect and serve Kentuckians with honor and dignity.
“Every day the men and women in our agency work tirelessly to provide public safety for Kentuckians, and they deserve nothing less than my absolute best as we continue to be one of the national leaders in law enforcement,” Burnett said. “As your commissioner, I am committed to protecting the integrity of all investigations, interactions with the public and our state officials as we conduct law enforcement in the right way. I also want to thank Gov. Beshear and Secretary Noble for their confidence in and dedication to me and all KSP personnel.”
As interim commissioner, Burnett expanded the recruitment department with the addition of one female trooper, one male trooper and the hiring of three new minority troopers. KSP is also collaborating with Dr. Aaron Thompson of the Kentucky Department of Education and Vikki Stone of the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet to further improve diversity recruitment efforts.
Burnett, officials said, has provided strong leadership to KSP on a variety of circumstances leading up to his promotion today, including:
- Providing additional security at the Kentucky Capitol grounds and in Washington, D.C., amid concerns related to the presidential inauguration
- Providing wellness checks to hundreds of Kentuckians during the state’s record flooding and ice storms this year
- Escorting UPS trucks carrying COVID-19 vaccine to UPS Worldport in Louisville, in order for thousands of frontline workers to receive their shot of hope
- Requiring all sworn KSP personnel to complete courses on implicit bias, race relations and social intelligence during a 40-hour state mandated in-service training by the end of this year
- Retraining the academy’s instructors on how to develop more appropriate, relevant and professional training materials
- Providing executive command staff, post and region commanders, training academy staff and legal staff with a virtual training from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Anti-Defamation League titled “Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons of the Holocaust”
- Reopening the doors to all 16 local post locations while following CDC guidelines to assist in the fight against the drug epidemic.
Burnett is a 25-year veteran of KSP and has served in numerous assignments including post level uniformed and investigative operations, collision reconstructionist, field training officer, firearms instructor, post commander, operations east troop major, and administration division lieutenant colonel and executive director of the Office of Operations as Unit 1.
On November 4, 2020, Burnett was promoted to colonel and acting commissioner of the agency.
Burnett is a native of Bell County, and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Union College, where he also holds a teaching certification in secondary education.
Since serving with KSP, he has received multiple awards including Post Trooper of the Year, the Citation for Bravery, the Commissioner’s Award and back-to-back Governor’s Awards for Impaired Driving Enforcement.
He currently resides in Pineville with his wife and two sons.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
