TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury is stepping down from his position after nine years of leading one of Southern Idaho's largest police forces. This time, he is retiring for good.
Chief Kingsbury grew up in Lewiston and has followed in his father's footsteps, serving in Idaho law enforcement since 1989.
"With over 35 years of service as a law enforcement officer in the state of Idaho, it has been everything I could have hoped for: the good, the bad, and the ugly," said Craig Kingsbury, Twin Falls Chief of Police.
He began his career with the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office before moving to Nampa in 1991, where he served as a patrol officer. After 24 years, he became Nampa's chief of police in 2012. Three years later, he took on the role of chief in Twin Falls.
"I started here on January 1, 2016, and I haven't looked back. It's been a wonderful nine years," Kingsbury said.
After briefly retiring in 2023, he has now officially announced his retirement from the Twin Falls Police Department for good.
"One of the things that my practice retirement did for me was give me a taste of travel and retirement. The last year and seven months have been wonderful, but my wife and I are ready to retire and ride off into the sunset," Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury takes pride in the technological advances his department has implemented over the last decade. One of the biggest challenges he faced was maintaining staff as public interest in policing grew nationwide.
"After 2020 and the incident with George Floyd in Minneapolis, police departments really took a hit nationwide, and Twin Falls was not immune to that," Kingsbury stated.
As for his replacement, the city didn't have to look far. Captain Matthew Hicks has been tapped to fill the position, pending a vote from the city council later this month.
"I'm excited for Captain Hicks; he is our longest tenured police officer in the city of Twin Falls, with over 31 years of service to this agency and this community," Kingsbury noted.
Hicks is enthusiastic about the opportunity and acknowledges that Chief Kingsbury has been crucial in getting him to this point in his career.
"Craig has been a great mentor to me, and we've been friends for a couple of decades. Working with him in this role has provided the best on-the-job preparation I could possibly have," said Captain Matthew Hicks of the Twin Falls Police Department.
As for Kingsbury's next chapter, he shares his plans:
"It's a wonderful community, and my wife and I plan to stay here. We will also do some traveling to see what the world has to offer," Craig Kingsbury concluded.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
