Mayor Ron Littlefield’s appointment of Bobby Dodd as the city’s new chief of police came quietly Tuesday, hard on the close of the mayor’s 90-day window for making the appointment. Unlike other such appointments in recent years, it was marked both by short notice and an absence of fuss. That owes mainly to the circumstance of the previous chief’s departure and the mayor’s agenda for consolidating the city’s police department under the umbrella of the county sheriff’s office. Still, it may well suit Chief Dodd.
The new chief, a 22-year veteran of the city’s police department, could find the lack of hoopla compatible with his agenda and the mood of the department. He says he wants to heal divisions with the department, tackle perceptions of crime in the city and beef up the number of officers. Each suggests concerns and tensions best resolved by a quiet and orderly agenda.
Chief Dodd should know his way around such issues. He rose steadily through the ranks, working in the patrol division both as an officer and as head of the downtown precinct. He has worked in internal affairs and as a special operations commander in criminal investigations. He subsequently became assistant chief over the investigations division.
He replaces former chief Freeman Cooper, who retired three months ago after the City Council denied the mayor’s plan to keep Chief Cooper in office as a contractor. That arrangement understandably spurred controversy over double dipping because it would have allowed Mr. Cooper to keep working at his top salary after officially retiring to take advantage of a big lump-sum pension pay-out option.
Mr. Dodd will take over the department from interim chief Mark Rawlston, who announced his planned retirement after Mr. Dodd was named to the post over Mr. Rawlston and assistant chief Mike Williams.
Oddly, one of the factors that Mayor Littlefield considered in his selection was that, as the youngest among the final three candidates, the 46-year-old Mr. Dodd is still three years away from an early retirement option, and he has another six years to serve before he can qualify for the full deferred-retirement benefit option, like one former chief Cooper took.
His selection, in fact, does fit with the purpose of the deferred benefit option in the police department’s pension plan: it encourages early retirement of senior officers, and allows upward movement from the ranks below.
Seasoned observers say Mr. Dodd is well-qualified to be chief. Certainly his top three initial goals parallel departmental and public concerns. By allowing the full 90 days to make his appointment, for example, the mayor allowed the department to stew and created divided loyalties among the ranks about the candidates.
Chief Dodd is also correctly concerned with the department’s shrunken staffing. The department is down 60 officers from its allowed contingent, and 40 are eligible for retirement. The chief also has good reason to worry about public concern over safety issues in public spaces and the level of crime. The number of shooting deaths, gang violence, burglaries in Brainerd and North Chattanooga, and a rising fear of being in the city’s riverfront parks after dark have prompted concern among many.
Mayor Littlefield said another factor in his selection of Mr. Dodd was that he considered the new chief supportive of his proposal to consolidate the city police department under the countywide sheriff’s jurisdiction. Whether the mayor can advance that idea, and how Chief Dodd responds to such an initiative, will be closely watched. In any case, Mr. Dodd merits support: He will have his hands full.