Prosser — PROSSER — The new police chief here said he was excited to return to small city police work.

“My roots are in municipal law enforcement area,” said Dave Giles, 59.

Giles, who started March 4, spent 25 years as a federal agent with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, most recently supervising the Des Moines, Iowa, office as the resident agent in charge.

He is no stranger to the Yakima Valley, having served from 1998-2001 as the resident agent in charge of the Yakima DEA office. He has adult daughters in Yakima and Pasco and was a semifinalist for the Yakima police chief position last year.

Giles retired two years ago from the DEA. All federal law enforcement agents must retire at age 57. During the past two years, he taught criminal justice and law enforcement administration for the University of Phoenix in Des Moines.

Before his federal work, he served as a municipal officer for 13 years in the suburbs of Chicago and a Coral Springs, Fla. Giles said his first objective is to listen and learn.

He plans no major changes for at least six months. After that, boosting the agency’s technology will be one of his first jobs. The city recently purchased six new vehicles equipped with laptops linked to the city’s dispatch contractor in the Tri-Cities.

Next may come automatic license plate readers.

“Technology wise, we’re a little behind the 8 ball,” he said.

His wife, Marcy, a retired phlebotomist, is still in Des Moines and will join him as soon as she sells their house, he said.