Juden to step down as state’s top cop Aug. 31

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Friday that current Director of the Department of Public Safety Drew Juden will step down on Aug. 31.

Parson said Col. Sandra K. Karsten will serve as the acting Director of Public Safety during the transition while also continuing her role as superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

“Drew is a well accomplished public servant. We appreciate his time and service to the State of Missouri and wish him well in the future,” Parson said. “Col. Karsten has a long track record of being a top-notch professional and an exemplary public servant. We are confident in her leadership during this transition.”

Juden was named director of the Department of Public Safety on Jan. 2, 2017. Prior to his appointment, he was director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, where he served since 1978 and was one of the department’s first three public safety officers.

While in Sikeston, Juden developed many courses in fire science and criminal justice and was a state and national level certified instructor. As Sikeston’s first training officer he also served as a squad sergeant and shift commander in the police division and held the positions of fire and police division commander.

Juden was the Director of Sikeston DPS in 2011 when the department was chosen as the pilot agency for MOSWIN, a statewide interoperable communications system. In his role, he worked closely with the Missouri Department of Public Safety to develop policies and implement the system that enables real-time, seamless agency-to-agency and discipline-to-discipline interoperable communications. Today, more than 1,150 agencies have access to the MOSWIN system and more than 150 agencies use MOSWIN for all of internal communications.

Juden is a member of the State of Missouri Homeland Security Advisory Council and he previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the SEMO Major Case Squad, SEMO Drug Task Force, and is the founding member of SEMO Bomb Team. He served as President of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association in 2015.

In 2008, Juden received the Missouri Police Chiefs Association’s Donald "Red" Loehr Outstanding Police Chief Award. He has received many awards locally, including Outstanding Young Law Enforcement Officer, Law Enforcement Officer of the Year and Citizen of the Year.

Karsten has been a member of the Missouri Highway Patrol since 1985 and become the 23rd superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol on Feb. 1, 2017. She is the first female to hold the position of superintendent in the Patrol's history.

“Gov. Parson asked if I would be willing to assist during the Department’s transition, and I am more than happy to help. Ensuring the public’s safety has been a top priority in my 33-year career in law enforcement, and it always will be,” Karsten said.

Parson did not set a timetable for the naming of a new director.