The five-person search committee named by Mayor Andy Berke to review and interview individuals seeking the top post at the Chattanooga Police Department made their final recommendations to the mayor today.
From the 49 applications submitted for the position, the committee selected current acting Chief David Roddy, Assistant Chief Edwin McPherson, and Captain Todd Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Police Department as candidates for the Chattanooga police chief position.
The final candidate list comes after former Chief Fred Fletcher retired earlier this month.
"We feel like this has been an open, fair and deliberative process," the committee said in a joint statement. "We appreciate every applicant's willingness to serve the City of Chattanooga and offer our congratulations to the three finalists. Each of them brings decades of experience and a thorough knowledge of law enforcement to the position. Any of them would make an incredible leader for the department."
The following are the candidates for Chattanooga police chief:
Todd ChamberlainCaptain Todd Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Police Department has worked in law enforcement for over 33 years. He has worked a wide variety of assignments including patrol, gang enforcement, use of force investigations, counter terrorism and SWAT. He has ascended within the ranks of the LAPD and now has over 1,800 officers under his command.
During his tenure with the department, he has implemented several new programs including operation ceasefire, the major incident response team and domestic violence intervention. In addition, he currently serves as the homeless coordinator for the entire LAPD where he has developed new systems, partnerships, and protocols for serving the homeless population in Los Angeles.
Chamberlain has a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from Union Institute and University.
Edwin McPhersonAssistant Chief Edwin McPherson of the Chattanooga Police Department has 25 years of experience in law enforcement. Chief McPherson started with CPD in 1992 as a patrol officer and was promoted in 1995 to investigator with the narcotics unit. After five years, he was promoted to Sergeant of the Fugitive Division where he worked in partnership with the DEA, FBI and many others to apprehend suspects wanted for committing violent crimes.
From 2002 to 2006, he supervised several other units before being promoted to Lieutenant of Special Investigations. After serving as Lieutenant for six years, he was promoted to Captain of Special Investigations in 2012 where he supervised all activities of the Special Investigations and Uniformed Service Patrol Divisions.
In May of 2016, McPherson was promoted to Assistant Chief of Criminal Investigations Bureau where he was commander of all criminal investigations. Chief McPherson is currently pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Bethel University and plans to graduate in May 2019.
David RoddyDeputy Chief of Police/Chief of Staff and Acting Chief David Roddy currently manages four assistant chiefs, eight captains and 19 lieutenants. He has operational responsibility for all 486 sworn officers and 100 non-sworn employees of the department.
During his 23 years with the Chattanooga Police Department, he has worked his way up the ranks from patrol officer. He has served as the captain over several divisions including uniformed services and internal affairs. In his current role, he has helped lead several of former Chief Fred Fletcher's directives including focusing on data and technology driven policing, developing the predictive community and intelligence-led policing (Pre-CIP), and creating a new mission, vision, and values for the department.
Acting Chief Roddy has a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Middle Tennessee State University.
The Mayor will begin conducting final interviews with these individuals and make his selection to lead the department in the next two weeks. Once the Mayor makes his selection, the appointment will be added to the City Council agenda for their consideration per the City Charter.