Cleveland names new police chief

Cleveland Police Service Center is shown in this file photo.
Cleveland Police Service Center is shown in this file photo.

Cleveland has chosen a new police chief.

Interim Chief Mark Gibson will drop the 'interim' title starting Monday.

He will take his official oath of office during the city council meeting on Sept. 28 at 3 p.m., according to a news release. The public is invited to attend. There will be a reception in the Police Service Center Community Room following the meeting, the release said.

The city received 36 applications for the job. City Manager Janice Casteel, Lee University President Dr. Paul Conn, Chamber President Robert Bradney, and Police Consultant Larry Wallace helped select and interview the finalists.

The final three included Gibson, Captain Jessie Brooks of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and Red Bank Police Chief Tim Christol.

"After several months and numerous hours of research and interviews, I realized we had the right person within our own department," Casteel said in the release. "Chief Gibson has been described by the public as 'a man of character, a positive person who loves his family, the Cleveland Police Department, his city, and his country.'"

Gibson was named interim police chief in March after previous chief Dennis Maddux was reportedly caught kissing an officer's wife in a car.

It was just one of many scandals involving the Cleveland Police Department in recent months:

Timeline of City of Cleveland police scandals

› Sept. 16: Cleveland police officer Edwin Millan arrested and charged with arson and insurance fraud.› Aug. 19: Sgt. Eddie Bonnett was placed on administrative leave after a female officer complained to her supervisor that Bonnett, her shift sergeant, texted an “inappropriate” photo from his personal cellphone to hers.› Aug. 7: Officers Carlton Walls and Chad Nave are placed on administrative leave to investigate allegations of extramarital sex and a woman’s accusation that she was sexually assaulted July 31 at a rented cabin in Gatlinburg.› June: Lt. Steve Tyson and Officer Jeffrey Griggs’ demotions and reassignments upheld for policy violations related to investigation of ex-Chief Dennis Maddux’s affair with Griggs’ wife.› May: Maddux submits retirement letter after internal affairs investigators said he lied about the relationship and events involving Cindy Griggs.› February: Officer Jeff Griggs finds his wife and Maddox trysting in a car across the county line in Calhoun, Tenn.› January 2014: Longtime Chief Wes Snyder retires after surveillance video showed him meeting a woman at a warehouse storage unit fitted out with a rug, blankets and a bottle of brandy.› July 2013: Former Officer Ross Wooten is suspended and later resigns over the third allegation of sexual misconduct since he joined the department in 2004. The woman also sued him in federal court.› May 2013: Sgt. Bill Higdon is terminated for repeated policy violations two months after suggestive texts and explicit photos from him turn up on the phone of a high-dollar prostitute whose death by gunshot was ruled a suicide.› December 2011: Snyder claims there was no evidence to investigate allegations of that officers were giving pills and alcohol to teenage girls and having sex with them before one officer shot and wounded another in December 2008. An investigation led to the imprisonment of Officers Dennis Hughes and Nathan Thomas on charges of having sex with 14- and 16-year-old girls.

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