Chief Jack Sapp
Collegedale’s Acting Chief of Police Jack Sapp was promoted to Chief of Police for the city on Thursday. The announcement and official pinning ceremony was conducted by City Manager Wayon Hines at a special dinner Thursday evening honoring the Collegedale Police Department.
Chief Sapp has over 29 years of public safety experience including service as a volunteer firefighter, a 911 dispatcher, and a police officer. He started his law enforcement career as an unpaid reserve officer with the City of Collegedale in 2003. Over the past 18 years, he served the citizens of Collegedale as a patrol officer, an assistant shift supervisor, a sergeant over a patrol shift, the Patrol Division lieutenant, the Assistant Chief of Police, and the Acting Chief of Police since January of 2021.
Since being appointed Acting Chief of Police, Chief Sapp created and accomplished a key list of priorities. He rewrote the agency's pursuit policy to address areas of extreme concern and create better officer accountability and safety protocols.
Chief Sapp also approved a thorough Internal Affairs policy to address and investigate officer complaints. An ongoing project he placed at the top of his list is achieving state accreditation for the Police Department. The accreditation process started and stalled in years past, but Chief Sapp is making it a priority for his department to achieve this recognition to create better officer accountability through the State of Tennessee.
Chief Sapp has devised a 10-year strategy for the Collegedale Police Department. His plan is to create a better functioning Disaster Response Protocol for his agency. Since 2011, the area has had a significant amount of natural disasters and scares. Chief Sapp proposes to have the officers able to respond sooner in a safer manner, and have the tools they need when they need them. The goal is to provide the citizens they serve with the help and resources they need sooner rather than later.
“I plan on reaching out to different groups and organizations in this community, the marginalized, the minority, those that may have felt unheard in the past,” said Chief Sapp. “I want to hear them and ask them to help me build advisory committees so we can be the police department our city needs.”
Chief Sapp aims to bring DARE and school safety programs back into the schools and have more positive interactions with the students. He also hopes to create a Traffic Safety Officer position who will handle programs like Child Passenger Safety, and address public health and safety concerns such as underage drinking while driving, and driving safety programs for young drivers and elderly citizens.
With a target of having at least 90% of the Collegedale Police Department certified as CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) officers within the next five years, Chief Sapp plans to have his officers prepared to better assist those in the community that may be suffering from a mental health problem or crisis.
Community outreach and sharing positive interactions with the citizens of Collegedale is an additional goal of Chief Sapp as he strives to develop positive changes in his department. He wants officers out of their cars and in the community interacting with the people they serve, building relationships and public trust. Citizens can also expect to see officers engaging with the community at large in the neighborhoods, in the schools, and in the businesses.
“I pledge to make the Collegedale Police Department a transparent government agency, where we will not only admit our mistakes, but also take immediate corrective action,” said Chief Sapp. “We will collaborate with our citizens to create strong community ties, because we do not want an ‘Us vs. Them’ approach. We are all in this together and the first steps toward building trust has to start right here!”