.@ProvoPolice Chief Ferguson introducing John Geyerman as the newly selected Deputy Chief of Police.
— Provo City Council (@provocouncil) May 7, 2019
Provo Police Chief Rich Ferguson was a young patrolman on a graveyard shift dealing with a DUI when a car with what appeared to be “two long-haired thugs” in it came up behind him.
Ferguson didn’t recognize the men, but then one of them held up four fingers — a sign for “Code 4“ that let Ferguson know the men were also police officers. One of those men, Ferguson later learned, was then-undercover officer John Geyerman.
“I felt immediately … ‘Okay, he’s got my back,'” Ferguson said.
Ferguson related this story while introducing Geyerman as the new deputy chief of Provo Police during a Provo City Council meeting on May 7.
He also expressed appreciation to the Provo City Council for approving a deputy chief of police several weeks earlier.
“As the city continues to grow and the department grows with it, we saw the need for more oversight,” he said, adding that the Provo Police Department went through a selection process with their current captains before ultimately choosing Geyerman.
Ferguson said Geyerman has been with the city for 31 years. His most recent assignment was overseeing the detective division, and prior to that, he was the commander over patrol for several years. Geyerman was also one of Ferguson’s supervisors throughout his career.
“(He’s) somebody that I always trusted and went to that always had the right answers,” Ferguson said. “I feel very secure with him in second-in-command of the police department.”
Geyerman is the next person affected by shifts in the Provo Police Department’s leadership since former Provo Police Chief John King resigned over sexual misconduct allegations in January 2017. Ferguson was named interim Provo Police chief following King’s resignation and became the new Provo Police chief in September 2017, according to the Daily Herald.
The Daily Universe reported on five women who brought sexual assault claims in a lawsuit against King and the city of Provo in March 2018. That lawsuit was ultimately settled for $750,000 in July 2018, according to the Daily Herald.
