After a month on the job, Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett says he’s about halfway through with one-on-one interviews with officers, asking them what the department does well and what it can be doing better.

The new chief, who last served as chief in Southlake, Texas, said employees have identified staffing as their primary concern for the department. More officers have been assigned to conduct background investigations, he said, which is expediting the hiring process.

“It’s getting better. I think, as of (Tuesday), we have nine vacancies,” Mylett said, with another 19 employees either in the academy or field training.

What officers value most, he said, is the level of service they provide the community.

“They value it,” Mylett said. “They are proud of it and it is extremely meaningful to them.”

Bellevue has seen rapid growth in its minority population, however, the majority of the police department is white men. Diversifying the force is high on Mylett’s list of priorities.

“It’s going to take a little time for the police department to catch up,” he said, adding this effort will include working with businesses, faith-based organizations, minority groups and community members. “What I’m suggesting to my employees is that every employee is a recruiter.”

There have been a number of national headlines this year regarding police-involved shootings, the killing of an unarmed man last month by a South Carolina police officer being particularly upsetting for Mylett, who said shooting at fleeing suspects is a practice that died out decades ago. Mylett said he worries stories like these — and the mark it places on police — will discourage more people from seeking careers in law enforcement in the future.

Body cameras were in Mylett’s budget while chief of police in Southlake, and are something he said he’s exploring now for the Bellevue Police Department. He said they’re effective in clearing up complaints about officer behavior, and he believes body cameras will eventually be standard issue nationwide.

The new police chief is also exploring the potential for developing a bike unit, but that comes down to staffing and equipment, Mylett said. Bikes give officers stealth and proved useful in reducing crime in Corpus Christi, Texas, where Mylett spent 23 years with the police department before moving to Southlake.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole replaced her command staff shortly after taking the position, but the Bellevue Police Department uses a competitive promotional process, so Mylett is left with the high-ranking officers that were in place when he got there. He said he’s pleased with the experience of his command staff, but couldn’t say whether he would eventually seek the authority to reorganize the ranks.

“The unions would have to be part of that conversation, and I’m not ready to comment on it yet,” he said.

The BPD has experienced a number of successes since Mylett took office, but the chief gives credit to his officers for that. There was the arrest of murder suspect Song Wang, the conviction and sentencing of a man who stabbed his ex-wife to death in 2013 and an Eastside Narcotics Task Force investigation that ended up bringing on federal agents to make 23 indictments and 18 arrests, seizing thousands of dollars in drugs and weapons.

“Things have been going very fast and furious since I got here.”