Heart of the Flathead

When Your Life's Calling Finds You: Jordan Venezio, Kalispell Police Chief

• David Wigginton • Episode 7

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What does real public safety look like when a department hires for character, invests in officer wellness, and stays close to its community? Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio joins host David Wigginton for a candid, story-driven look at leadership, purpose, and building trust in a fast-growing Flathead Valley. From his unconventional start in business and real estate to patrol, narcotics, and school resource officer work, Jordan’s path has given him a 360-degree view of service. His time at the FBI National Academy honed his focus on communication, wellness, and strategic decision-making—skills he now uses to guide a department rooted in collaboration and care.

Jordan shares how a local safety levy helped Kalispell PD cut response times nearly in half, strengthen visibility, and deepen relationships with residents and businesses. He talks about prioritizing youth safety, expanding school resource programs, and building partnerships like Special Olympics that foster community trust. From working alongside regional agencies to finding balance outdoors, his approach reveals what it takes to lead a healthy, human-centered police department in today’s Montana.

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Heart of the Flathead, is produced by David Wigginton, in partnership with LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at HeartoftheFlathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights are reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton by clicking the Send Us a Text link at the top of the episode description.

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit down with the change makers, the unstung heroes, and everyday folks who give this place its pulse. If you live here, love here, or just want to know what makes Callispo and the Valley tick, you're in the right place. And now here's your host, Dave Wigginton.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome everybody to another episode of Heart of the Flathead. Excited to have our guest here today. We've got police chief for the Callisville Police Department, Jordan Venestio. I'm grateful to have him here today. Jordan, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, thank you, David. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. So, you know, obviously the police department plays a huge role in any community and in our community. And I think it's one of those things that maybe is not fully appreciated. You hear about a lot of the police in the news, usually from a negative perspective, but there's positive press as well. And I think we're super fortunate in our community to have such a great police department, have a great police chief and you, Jordan. But we want to take this time today, maybe to get to know you a little bit and know a little bit about what you do, how you got to where you were, and then we can talk a little bit more about what the police department does for the community, all the great progress you guys have made in in the last several years. But uh let's start by maybe just get to know a little bit more about your background, where you're from, kind of your life experience, how you got to uh where you are today, and maybe what you've learned along the way.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that sounds great. So my name is Jordan Venezio. I'm the police chief for the city of Calspell. And I grew up in Montana. Most of my life, my childhood at least, I grew up in Troy, Montana. So over a little teeny town on the Idaho border outside of Libby there. In high school, my family moved over to Columbia Falls, and that's where I graduated high school. And, you know, at that point, I wasn't, I wasn't certain what I wanted to do, you know, as I as I grew up. I ended up going to Flat Valley Community College here in Callspell and got an associate's degree in business and my real estate license. So that was my my plan uh right after high school. And then the real estate market crashed in 2008, and it was one of those things where I had to look for something, and I had a friend in law enforcement at KPD who encouraged me to apply. So at 20 years old, I threw in my application at KPD, hadn't really given it much thought, but it immediately I recognized this as the profession that I was I was meant to do. So I was fortunate enough to get hired and began my career with the Calspow Police Department in 2009.

SPEAKER_00:

So who was the police chief that hired you?

SPEAKER_02:

Roger Nassett. And how many years did you serve under him? I would say my first seven years were under Roger Nassett. And then he retired and Chief Doug Overman took over. Right. And I believe I believe Chief Overman, he was the chief for five or six years.

SPEAKER_00:

Got it. And then you you succeeded Chief Overman, then is that right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Okay, great. Now, funny, funny story I think would be good for everybody to hear is I happened to be in a meeting where you were presenting and several people in the audience who knew who you were, and there was stories that were, I guess, that you confirmed that you you were kind of a skate rat growing up and uh and had some fun, I'm not saying against the law, but you know, it was maybe you were so maybe give us a little bit of that background about you know what's what that's about and maybe a little bit more about your childhood in that regard.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those things where I think it had it gave me a good perspective on moving forward into a career of law enforcement of just understanding that we're a lot more alike than we are different. And you know, as a as a kid, I didn't have clear direction. I wasn't I wasn't a criminal at all. I wasn't a you know delinquent, but you know, definitely had some fun. And un until I think until someone finds out what their true purpose is and what they they want to do in their life, you feel the purpose in in your profession and you you have the focus to be successful at that point. And and that's really what it came down to me is as a as a kid, I didn't have the focus and I didn't have purpose or clear direction of what I wanted for my life. And so when you're you're referring to some of those interactions with the community members, it was it was all in good fun, and those are amazing people. But as I look back on it and as I encounter some of my friends' parents and and teachers, they look at me and they they say, Really? You're the chief of police in Calusville. And it's uh you know, they're they're happy and they're and they're they're proud, but at the same point, I don't think they saw it coming.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. I can relate with that. That's why I it's kindred spirits in that regard. Is like I remember growing up and you know, you just our life's experiences help shape us and uh give us perspective once we get a little bit older and that uh our brains are a little more developed and we can you know see the world a little bit more uh accurately. So I think that that is a good, a great, great thing for just the people to know is that we all have our way of getting to where we are and we have different experiences and and we're I I I love the quote, you know, we're we're more alike than we're than we we're not. And I think that is that that that rings true with me definitely. So okay, so you were thinking about going into business and real estate. What uh what what prompted that when you when you graduated high school?

SPEAKER_02:

So my my stepfather was in real estate, and just that opportunity presented itself as a path forward. I can tell you that was the time in my life where I was I was searching for what I wanted in my life. I knew that I wanted to do good, I knew I wanted to be successful. So I I was working hard in areas that I wasn't quite sure if it was it or not. And I do still love uh real estate. I know that's something that I think was kind of just fascinating. And I I could see myself had that that market not changed, I probably would have stuck with that. You know, I I enjoyed it. But I was also getting married and needing to find a job with income so I could, you know, support. And so it just I kind of just landed in law enforcement. And a lot of people when I interview for for new positions, they talk about how they had this lifelong dream of service and law enforcement. And if I'm being completely honest, I didn't I didn't have that. I didn't feel that until I was already hired. But it was pretty it was pretty immediate that I could feel it, but it wasn't it wasn't a lifelong goal of mine.

SPEAKER_00:

That's powerful. You felt it at that instant.

SPEAKER_02:

So how long you've been married? I have been married for going on 16 years. It'll be 16 years this year. No, I lied. It'll be 17 years this next year.

unknown:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Hopefully she's not listening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

How many uh how many kids do you have?

SPEAKER_02:

I have two kids. I have a fifth grade daughter and a fourth grade son. So my daughter will be 11 next month, and my son will be 10 in March.

SPEAKER_00:

Kids are a blast. That's that's that's great. So okay, so you started off thinking business and real estate just based on you know experience with you know the adult figures in your life. That's pretty typical. You you applied to KPD because a friend tells you to, or or you have a friend there, and you end up realizing right away pretty, pretty quickly then that this is what your calling was in life was to was to be in law enforcement. Yeah. And what led you to want to be the chief of police?

SPEAKER_02:

I think that was another thing that just happened over time. I didn't have those aspirations from the start. I did have mentors, Roger Nassett, Chief Overman both. As my career progressed, they they expressed that they believed that that is something that I could do if if I wanted it. And they would, you know, help me work towards that with different experiences and trainings and things I could do in my career.

SPEAKER_00:

They saw your potential then, basically. You you must have been a good, a good so you were on patrol and you did different things uh when you were uh an officer, is that right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So I started in patrol like everybody does, and I worked probably five straight years of that. After that, I was on the motorcycle traffic division. So I worked on the motorcycles for a couple years. I got to work a summer on the Northwest Drug Task Force, and I got to work as a school resource officer for a few years at Calcewell Middle School. And after that, I was promoted to patrol sergeant, where I worked for a few years. And then they had a new position of a lieutenant, a patrol lieutenant that I was fortunate enough to be selected for and promoted to lieutenant. And that is really the position that prepares you administratively, is once you get to that lieutenant position. And yeah, things just kept progressing. And as far as the the chief position, I was lucky enough to be selected for the FBI National Academy in Kwanico, Virginia. And it's a you know pretty long process. It can take years to be selected. Only about 1% of law enforcement ever gets to attend that. And in April 2023, I was in Virginia for a few months attending that when Chief Overman announced his retirement. And so I I actually applied and did my first interviews over Zoom from Quantico, Virginia to be the post chief here in Cal.

SPEAKER_00:

So what what is what is the purpose of the the uh the academy or the program in Quantico?

SPEAKER_02:

Essentially it's executive leadership for law enforcement. So uh courses from public speaking to dealing with media, officer wellness, leadership, a whole multitude of things that they have experts from all over the country come in and teach these courses.

SPEAKER_00:

And so only 1% of law enforcement professionals get selected for that program? Is that what you said? Wow. So we've got the 1% as our our chief of police here in Callispo. That's pretty awesome. That's that's really awesome. So that's great. So what was how was that experience? I mean, do you feel like that was was a great experience? And or what what did you take away from that?

SPEAKER_02:

It you know, it was it was an amazing experience. It was a challenge for me in a sense of my wife and children were here and a lot of burden was put on my wife's shoulders for the house and the kids. And so that was stressful being gone, more stressful for her than me. But it was something that I'm fortunate that I was able to do it. I met lifelong friends. The the networking that I've had available to me as a police chief. I mean, essentially every state in the United States, I know a high-level chief or sheriff all over the country. And I can give them, you know, we we spend so much time together that I have their phone numbers and I can just call them and ask them for their advice or policies or you know, things that they've gone through that we're now going through to see if they can help us navigate it. And I think it's really instrumental in a police chief having the ability to lean in on other people that may have answers for them. The National Academy can do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Does all law enforcement collaborate like that then throughout the country, or is that kind of unique to the people that participate in in this program in Quantico?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I think law enforcement is pretty dependent, unfortunately, on the need to collaborate. And I can tell you here in the flathead, collaboration is the only way that we find success. You know, Sheriff Haino, myself, Chief Stevens, Chief Kelch, and Whitefish, we need each other and we and we know that. So our relationships are are very important. And we have to use each other in different ways, whether it's help on calls or different collaboration or large events that are outside the scope that we can handle. We have to have that. Large agencies, they may have the resources they need to handle most things. So I don't know that you see the collaboration as much, but I can tell you from my opinion, whether you're large or small, collaboration is the only way to truly be successful in law enforcement.

SPEAKER_01:

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SPEAKER_00:

And so how do you how do you define success in law enforcement? I think success in law enforcement is you know twofold.

SPEAKER_02:

Is the community uh healthy and safe? And are your police officers healthy and safe? You have to, you know, identify both those things because that is something that I'm happy to see. We are really focusing on the health of law enforcement as we as this profession progresses. But I think that was ignored for a long time. And the negative impacts on that are not, they don't stop at the long at the law enforcement officer. They they trickle down in the whole community when you don't take care of police officers. And if we have community members that feel safe outside their house, the roads are safe, they they know that there is consequence for crime, right? They believe in the justice system. That to me is the true measure of whether we're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_00:

So as police chief, what what is your role on that success chain?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we talked a little bit about collaboration in a sense of law enforcement agencies collaborating, but community collaboration is huge. I want them to know me. I want the community to be able to reach out, call me, express concerns, feel that even if the answer they want is not the answer they get, they at least understand the challenges or or why we do certain things. I think that that's uh very important. And then my other job is to prepare police officers to do the best job they can for their community by putting the mission first to keep the community safe. But at the same time, I want them to know that we care about them and we're going to take care of them, you know, for the hard job that they do, because a police officer's job, especially today, is tremendously difficult.

SPEAKER_00:

As you know, I in preparation for our discussion today, I did a ride along with one of your officers. And I can just confirm that, you know, we've got we've got some great police officers here in Calispel that really want to do the right thing and be successful in the way you defined success for law enforcement. And I think that uh we're we're super fortunate, obviously, is a credit to you and your predecessors, but also to the individual officers who make the sacrifices and take the time to learn their their their trade and to implement and execute that trade. So I guess this is you know just me saying thank you for that because I, you know, my my I s myself and my family, we feel at least feel safe as a result of that and think you guys are doing a great job. So thank you for for all of that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00:

How I mean, you talked about safety, you talked about community involvement or community feedback and those sorts of things. What are the things does the police department do for the community? I mean, obviously public safety is number one, but I feel like they're involved in a lot of different ways. And so you know anything else that we haven't touched on yet in this discussion?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, you'll see your police officers involved heavily in the school districts. We have a pretty robust SRO program. So our elementary schools, high schools, and even the Flat Valley Community College, we have a school resource officer program. You know, if you're if you're looking for things, you're gonna see police officers fixing kids' bike chains, you know, when they're on patrol. You're gonna see them talking to kids at parks. They they don't only focus on the you know the criminal component of the job. We hire people mostly based off of who they are as as people. And that is something that I heard Chief Overman say repeatedly was we can we can train police officers, but we're gonna hire for character and we're gonna hire good people first and foremost. And that is what I fully believe separates KPD from other law enforcement is we hire tremendous people. Not that we're perfect, not that you know, sometimes we fall short of that and there's consequences for that. But by and large, we hire people that care about their community and are out there working every day showing that. Uh, we have volunteer programs. I would say law enforcement uh specifically, the largest law enforcement area that we focus on is Special Olympics. So athletes with uh varying levels of disabilities. We participate in Special Olympics. We have a Special Olympics coordinator, we do penguin plunges, law enforcement torch runs, and we volunteer our time for that. And that has built some pretty special relationships with that program in our police department.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. And so youth, obviously, is a big focus. You missed and mentioned the SRO roles. That's the school resource officer at the individual high schools and at the middle school. Do you have school resource officers at the elementary schools?

SPEAKER_02:

Not specifically at the elementary schools. We have our uh middle school SRO. He'll spend some time with them, and then each high school has a middle school that or an elementary school that they will go down and you know, read books, have lunch with the kids, just make sure that they know them.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. And so I, you know, my I my daughter was at Calisbow Middle School. She is not flathead, but I remember that uh Officer Allen was the school resource officer for her her tenure at Calisbow Middle School. My son's there now. I actually don't know who the school resource officer is at this point, but I know that they've done a lot of great work there. I also, interesting, on when I was on patrol with Officer Ormiston, we first thing we did on day patrol was go by the elementary school in his patrol zone, which was ranking. And he just talked about, yeah, we're we're always checking on the kids. We want to make sure the kids are safe. And and as a parent, that's super reassuring. And so it's great that we are so focused on on our youth and our community and and making sure that they're safe.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think there's anything more important than the safety of our children. And if and if I have one priority as a chief of police, it it is around our kids and make sure that everything that we do centers around that. There's no more important thing to protect than our children. They're, in my opinion, been in law enforcement for as long as I have the only true victims in our world are our children. They're innocent. They're the only true innocent people. So it's a high, high priority for KPD.

SPEAKER_00:

So referring to that presentation that I had had the opportunity to participate in a couple months back, you had shared some statistics about how the law enforcement success had improved over the past several years as a result of the public safety levy that passed a few years ago. And I think some of the things that stood out to me, response times were down. So you guys were able to get to situations quicker as a result of more staff and more resources. What are some of the highlights from, I guess, the the benefits that have accrued as a result of that public safety levy?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I would say the two biggest and most visible benefits are those response times you referred to. We are getting to calls for help faster, significantly faster. I would say we've already cut them close to in half from when the levy first was requested. And the other thing is proactive police work. We're seeing a big return to that at KPD. We had what does that mean? Proactive police work? Proactive policing is anything from traffic stops to pedestrian stops to business checks, just being out in the community and without being called to help, we are we are looking for things to keep the community safe or even looking for things to build relationships with the community. So rather than just being responsive all the time to crimes that are happening, we are taking steps to prevent those crimes.

SPEAKER_00:

So great. Well, you obviously talked a lot about police work here, but you know, so as you think about your life, you know, we talked about some of your motivations and you want to you want to give back to the community. What are things that you do outside of work to help you recharge and refocus and and be on your A game when you when you show up at the station?

SPEAKER_02:

Anything outdoors in the flathead, that's that's what I'm about. So you'll see me rafting on the rivers, you'll see me archery elk hunting, you'll see me with my my family, my children, and my wife camping and fishing and just the the simple things in life that truly matter. That's what I like to focus on. And it's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a have you gotten an elk yet this year?

SPEAKER_02:

I have I have not. I I have a whole bunch of excuses why, but I I didn't get an elk.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I will though.

SPEAKER_02:

I have I have time.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, good. Did you get a chance to go out already though, or have you not been out yet?

SPEAKER_02:

I I was able to get out a little bit. I actually this last spring I I ruptured my Achilles tendon, so I had surgery in in April, and it's it slowed me down a little bit. I'm not uh I'm not getting after it as much as I usually can.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. And you're still young, Bach. You man, you should be recovering quickly. We gotta get you get you back up and going. It gets it's worse than that.

SPEAKER_02:

I can I can tell you how I ruptured it if if you want to really be able to tease. I was playing pickleball with my 74-year-old stepdad. So that was fun. Yeah. Who won? Who won the game? He did for sure. Every game. Okay. That's why I was trying so hard.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah. Use different muscles and and tendons, I guess, for pickleball, right? Yeah. That's great. Well, yeah, Jordan, what what does uh a better, stronger future for our community here in the flathead look like to you?

SPEAKER_02:

I think in our community, we're gonna continue to focus on partnerships and making sure we have the resources we need in the valley, safer roads, uh, mental health resources, jail capacity, community involvement with our police officers. You know, over time, if we stay that course and we invest in that, you're gonna see the flathead continue to get safer and healthier.

SPEAKER_00:

We're uh we're gonna move on to our our flathead five, which are the five questions we ask all of our guests. And they're just rapid fire. So we're we'll go go through that. But speaking of a flathead, what what is your favorite hidden gem here in our community?

SPEAKER_02:

Evergreen gas and deli breakfast burritos.

SPEAKER_00:

Evergreen gas and deli breakfast burritos. I like that one. Haven't heard that one yet. I'm not sure we'll hear that one again, but that's yeah, that's awesome. Great. Are you a Grizz or Bobcat fan? Grizz. What is uh your favorite outdoor activity in the valley?

SPEAKER_02:

Elk hunting.

SPEAKER_00:

Where do you go elk hunting here in the valley? Or do you go outside of it? Both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I go, you know, west of Cowlspell a lot, but sometimes I'll go outside the valley.

SPEAKER_00:

What do you know today that you wish you knew when you started out?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I mentioned this before, you know, in our talk today, and just that everyone is much more alike than we are different, and we gotta we gotta focus on that because the division that I see in my job, it really magnifies how unhealthy that is. And we have to find a way to focus on what we all agree on, which is much more than we disagree on, but we're not focusing on that right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Building bridges. I like it. So when your your story's over, what do you want the one or two sentence review on your book to be?

SPEAKER_02:

I'd like it to read that I cared about other people and that I was a good husband and a good father.

SPEAKER_00:

Jordan, thank you so much for uh being with us today. Uh thank you for your service to our community and for all the great work that you're doing at uh the police department. And we thank your your force as well. I mean, uh like I said, you've got a great, great group of officers over there. And I know you know that, but uh as a community member, having met several of them now, I just feel super fortunate to have them here and super fortunate to have you in the steep that you're in doing the things that you're doing. So thank you again for all that you do, and thank you for being on Heart of the Flathead.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, David. I appreciate the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the Flathead. We'd love to hear your thoughts about today's episode and the podcast in general. You can listen at heart of the flathead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can reach David via the contact page at heart of the flathead.com or by clicking on the send us feedback link at the top of the episode description in your favorite podcast app.