NASHVILLE, Tenn. - There has been a new class of recruits at the Metro Police Department Training Academy. It's a big class that has been set to fill spots left open through attrition.
City officials have hoped to soon add another class to fill a new police precinct.
The newest class of recruits at the Metro Police Training Academy has been one of the department's largest. It's the 78th class in that building.
Chief Steve Anderson was in the first graduating class there 40 years ago.
“No. It never occurred to me when I was sitting in that classroom in 1975 doing the things that they'll be doing that I would be the chief of police,” Chief Anderson said.
He has had the challenge of adding new officers in an evolving department trying to keep up with changing times.
“The public expectation is different, technology is different, so the way I started is not the way to do it today, and it won't be the way to do it 5-10 years from now,” Chief Anderson said.
In fact, the chief just created a new committee of police department employees to help the department implement some new federal recommendations on how police departments should be run.
“We want everybody's input,” Chief Anderson said. “We want buy in from all across the department. The officers out there on the street are the future of the department, so we'll be going through those recommendations and deciding what we need to do here in Nashville.”
Nashville has been close to adding another police precinct.
It would become the city's 9th, and would be located somewhere in the Murfreesboro Road area, probably not too far from the Family Justice Center.
That complex to be built on Murfreesboro Road would focus on protecting kids and families in domestic violence cases.
Mayor Karl Dean said the goal has always been making neighborhoods safe.
“By adding precincts, we've added two new precincts the Midtown Precinct and the Madison Precinct, what that does is it brings more public safety to those areas of the county, but it also reduces the coverage of the existing precincts,” Mayor Dean said.
The new precinct has been set to reduce the size of the Hermitage and South Precincts.
It's part of an ever changing landscape of the Metro Police Department.
City officials have not said when the new Family Justice Center would be finished or when there will be money to build the 9th police precinct.
