‘The Lord has afforded my steps to Level Plains’

Level Plains Police Chief Ivan Keith Gray was sworn in at the Level Plains Community Center on Jan. 10.

Before giving the oath, Judge Bruce McLean had a few things to say  about Gray.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I’m Bruce McLean and I’ve been the judge out here in your court for about 30 years,” McLean said. “During the course of my serving as your judge, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of folks, have a lot of police officers out here but I can’t recall having one that has any more integrity and professionalism than Chief Gray.”

After the oath, Alabama State Rep. Dexter Grimsley pinned Gray’s badge.

“I’ve known Chief Gray for a long time, and I’ve got to say that Level Plains has definitely got themselves a good chief,” Grimsley said. “(He’s) a man of integrity, like everyone has said also a man with the knowledge to carry forth this duty, and I am just honored to place this badge upon this man tonight.”

Alabama State Rep. Steve Clouse then pinned Gray’s “chief” insignias on his uniform.

“This is the first time I’ve met Keith (Gray) and I’m looking forward to working with you and I know the good citizens of Level Plains, who I do know, are looking forward to your service so congratulations to you and best wishes,” Clouse said.

Gray took the podium and thanked God for guiding him to Level Plains.

“The Lord has afforded my steps to Level Plains,” Gray said. “I knew about the City of Level Plains and The Lord guided me here. I prayed, I received confirmation and I spoke to the mayor (Bruce Grantham) and talked to the councilmen and they asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ I said, ‘The Lord’s here, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing but The Lord sent me here.”

He said that when he was contemplating taking the position, it was “no” that actually made him realize he needed to take the job.

“Believe or not, there’s one person who told me not to take the position,” Gray said. “That is when I knew I was supposed to take it. It wasn’t the person, but it was what they reminded me of when I was here and that The Lord did send me here.”

Gray talked about his life as a child and how it reflected his decision to become a police officer.

“If you talk to my family over here, they’ll tell you that in my childhood days when we were doing the cops and robbers thing back then—because we didn’t have Xbox and all that stuff—they could never get me to be the robber,” Gray said.

He also spoke upon the current state of law enforcement in the United States.

“Sometimes you may think that—when it comes to law enforcement—we’re having a bad time right now with the media, but it takes good officers to come here and make sure we overshadow the bad,” Gray said. “That’s one thing I just took an oath to do and I’ve taken an oath like this prior when we all graduated from police academy. I have a great group of officers and we’re going to be adding more officers and I thank everyone for being here and that’s going to be it because if you know me, you know I can talk.”