Following the announcement of Celeste Murphy as Chattanooga's new chief of police, she answered a few questions from the media at City Hall. Reporters' questions and Murphy's answers have been edited for clarity.
Q. Not not only are you the first woman chief in Chattanooga's history, but you're also the first Black woman chief in the department's history and this is all occurring during Black History Month. So can you please tell me what it means to be a representative of the department, especially during this month, and what it means to you to be a minority who can represent a police department and work with Chattanooga's minority community?
A. It means so much to me, so much that, not only is this Black History Month, but next month is Women's History Month - that's how much I'm focused on this. That's why there's absolutely no way that I'm going to allow Chattanooga to fail because you took a chance on me, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that we make a good comeback from some of the challenges that we're seeing here.
You know, I think that one thing I can credit is that the department that I'm coming from easily recognizes the talent that all other races and genders had to bring to the table. Diversity is how you are able to solve problems because you have different perspectives. And that was one of the things that I said that I wanted to bring to Chattanooga was a different perspective. And it's not always about, you know, something being totally wrong, or not working, or this is a disaster. It's just about a fresh start, a new perspective, a different direction will make you move the needle.
Q. What's the best way to diversify departments so the department better represents the communities that they serve?
A. The easiest thing for me, and I know what worked for me and I'm sure that works well for others, is seeing someone that looked like me. As a young officer in the department, I never saw this thing occurring. It just wasn't in my mind at the time. But when you're exposed to things and you see that you have a chance to do it and you're loud and give them the resources and the tools to do it, you do. So you need to see someone that looks like you, and you need someone to give you the opportunity to be able to achieve it and it'll happen.
So when you want to diversify a department, you go to those neighborhoods, you go to those establishments where you know you'll find the demographic that you're looking for, and you reach people where they are. You meet them where they're at. And then you show them what this department can do and how to leverage their career.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga's new police chief is Celeste Murphy)
Q. There's a lot of distrust in police. And as you were serving as deputy chief during the George Floyd protests in Atlanta, I believe you said that you had a family member who died in police custody, so could you elaborate on that and what it's like to balance being in the police field and also just dealing with people in your own community that don't trust [police] or are hesitant to cooperate with them?
A. It goes back to making sure that we bring humanity back into the law enforcement profession. I did indeed have a relative who died in police custody. Ended up being the wrong person, should not have been in custody. To be a person who was at a time a high-ranking official in a police department and I wasn't able to help, I know what that feels like for families who are in similar situations. So, there's no way that I will make another family go through the same thing that my family also went through. It would not happen on my watch. I've also in person throughout my career as a supervisor, held people accountable, you know, to their actions.
So, by no stretch, do I want the Chattanooga Police Department to think that I'm not on their side, because I'm always going to cover who's under me. I'm always going to do that. As long as we do the right thing. And I will hold you accountable to it. And we'll learn from things and we'll move on, but you just have to make sure that you set a standard and you have to be fair across the board with it. And you've got to stick to that standard, so people know what to expect.
Q. What's your first homework assignment as chief of the Chattanooga Police Department?
A. Well, first I want to make sure that I meet everybody that we're going to work with, that's the first order, and just give a clear direction of what my vision is. And then I'm going to go out on the street and I'm going to meet everybody who lives in Chattanooga. It's gonna take me a while, so you may have me around for a while, because I'm gonna meet everybody here. I want to know what the community wants from me, as well, because it's not just about my perspective. It's not just about reading, you know, on stats and data. It's about what are we doing and how does it affect you.
Q. How do you see the future going when it comes to race relations within a police department?
A. You have to make sure that the same thing that you expect out of the community and police relations, you have to make sure that internal relationships within the police department are mirroring that. You want your police departments to mirror the city, and you want the behaviors in your department to mirror how the city expects you to act, so those incidents that none of us want to go through in our in our city, whether it's police-related or not, it's still a tone is still a behavior is still a belief. And you know at the end of the day, people look at it as black and white, and this is something that we need to make sure that we start looking at each other and realizing that we have more commonalities than we then having differences.
At the end of the day, people look at it as black and white, and this is something that we need to make sure that we start looking at each other and realizing that we have more commonalities than having differences.
- Compiled by Colin M. Stewart