Doing a nation wide talent search for Chattanooga’s new police chief is an ill advised idea.
The new chief, in my opinion, should be someone already helping to improve the Chattanooga Police Department and is currently on the ground working to bridge the civilian and law enforcement divide.
We need a leader who has skin in the game and understands the city, has family and friends in the city, knows the officers they will be leading, and most importantly loves the community they will be serving.
These roots in the community don’t happen when a mayor appoints you, but rather when a community respects you and when you respect them.
Bringing in an outsider and transplanting them into an unique and dynamic environment is too much of a learning curve and contrived.
We need an organic leader with their heart invested in our people’s pursuit of happiness. A public servant who knows from first hand experience what it was like to grow up in poverty in crime prone areas in Chattanooga. A leader who doesn’t see pie charts, statistics and histograms, but sees human beings.
Assistant Chief Glenn Scruggs was an outstanding patrol officer and homicide detective. He helped bring justice for homicide victims' families. He is a family man, devoted father and loyal husband.
Glenn is a people person, highly intelligent and capable of nuanced thinking. In these challenging times we need not only a door kicker who officers respect, but a philosopher and open-minded, well read intellectual. Glenn Scruggs is this humble leader.
“The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it.”
Andrew McLaren