Estevan's new police chief is looking forward to new beginnings and new challenges when he begins his new job later this month.

Rich Lowen's first day on the job will be Sept. 20 after spending 30 plus years of his career with the Winnipeg Police Service.

"I just looked at it as a great opportunity to take the next step in my career and get a little bit of a change of pace from Winnipeg," Lowen said. "Move to a beautiful city like Estevan and take on some new challenges."

Lowen said the first priority will be getting to know the people on his staff and building relationships in the community.

"It's going to be different," he said. "It's a small group of people that do a difficult job. And after that it's going to be getting to know the community. Find out what their needs are going to be, find out what they're expecting from their police service and what they're going to expect from me."

Lowen, 56, said the dynamics will be a lot different in a smaller community such as Estevan. 

"The relationships are going to be a lot closer. Everybody knows everybody that's in town. Where as in a big city you can kind of disappear into large groups and you don't get to know the community as well," he said. "And that's actually one of the things that attracted me to Estevan is getting to know the people in a smaller group and getting to know that little family, whether it's in the (police) service or the community."

Lowen was also asked about the inquiry into workplace culture that was launched at the Estevan Police Service earlier this year.

"It wouldn't be right for me to comment to say what I would do differently," he said. "I can only do what I can do when I get there and learn everybody's side of the story. I know that when I come I can start to have those conversations and hopefully build for a better service not only for the members, but to also get that out to the community. Because when the members are in a better place, they're able to serve the community in a better place."

Beyond the police work, Lowen said he is a huge hockey fan and is looking forward to seeing Affinity Place and taking in some Bruins games.

"I'm really dying to see the arena there," he said. "My wife had a tour and I was a little bit jealous. It's going to be some awesome hockey. Watching the young guys play is just fantastic."

Lowen said he is planning to move to Estevan within the next week.

"We've purchased a house in Estevan," he said. "I'm really looking forward to coming. I'm very excited, my family is excited."