Murfreesboro has announced a new leader in the police department.
Chief Karl Durr is taking over a police department enjoying relatively low crime rates compared to other cities of the same size.
Durr comes most recently from Eugene, Oregon where he was assistant chief of the police department there.
Murfreesboro Police said the city has a crime rate that's reached a five year low, and Durr said community involvement is his key to keeping the crime rate that way, particularly as the city and surrounding area continues to grow.
“Everything’s booming around here,” Durr said. “We have to be careful with that, because with that can come increased crime. We can't become complacent with the status quo, so we have to push ahead and say, ‘How can we do things better, how can we do things safer?’”
One of the ways Durr hopes to do that, he said, is technology improvements in the department to make the workflow of police officers easier.
“That gets them more time out on the street, more time in the community,” Durr said.
Durr replaced former chief Glenn Chrisman who retired after 40 years with the City of Murfreesboro.
