www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080810/NEWS/224050126/ -
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Published on: 8/9/2008
Last Visited: 8/11/2008
TUSCALOOSA | The first few days after being named Tuscaloosa's new police chief have been a whirlwind for Capt. Steve Anderson.
(Robert Sutton/ Tuscaloosa News) Steve Anderson was named as the new Tuscaloosa Police Chief on Wednesday . Anderson set down for an interview with the Tuscaloosa News the following day in his office at the Tuscaloosa Police Department.
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Anderson took a few minutes Thursday afternoon to check his e-mail after a day filled with meetings, radio and television interviews and a deluge of phone calls congratulating him and wishing him luck.
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Anderson will take over the office on Oct. 1.
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Anderson said he wants to decentralize the department and make better use of the precincts in Alberta, near the University of Alabama campus and west Tuscaloosa.
'I want to make it easier for people to have access to police service when they need it,' he said.
If a call comes in while officers are sitting in the muster room at TPD headquarters at the beginning of a shift, they might have to fight traffic and travel across town to get there.But by having officers start their shifts at the precincts, they would be closer and ready to respond, he said.
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Mayor Walt Maddox chose Anderson from a pool of seven applicants, including other high-ranking members of the department.
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Asked on the questionnaire what innovative strategies could be implemented to reduce crime, Anderson answered that video monitoring could be used in some areas of the city, such as large parking lots at malls or clubs, where vehicle thefts, break-ins or violence occur.Electronic billboards could be used for crime prevention and alerts, he said.Gunshot sensors could be used in high-crime areas to detect and deter gun violence.Police could conduct sting operations, long-term narcotics investigations and establish a DUI enforcement unit, he said.
Anderson has worked as the department's internal affairs investigator since 2003, a position he said has historically been viewed with suspicion and distrust by officers.Officers in the department, however, speak highly of him.Many of them encouraged him to apply for the chief's job, as did members of the community, he said.
Like Swindle, the 6-foot 3-inch tall Anderson is a physically commanding presence.He has an easygoing manner and a cool-headed demeanor that likely served him well as the department's hostage negotiator.
'People walk in and they know who's in charge,' said Jeanette Bishop-Hall, an owner of the original Dreamland where Anderson has worked security since he was a rookie police officer in the mid-1990s.
'I think that one of the best things about Steve, the thing people will love about him, is that he takes things to heart,' she said. 'He's a very sincere person and he stands by his word.I think he'll do a very good job, I really do.'
After growing up in rural Uniontown in Perry County, Anderson attended the University of Alabama and, in 1993, earned a degree in criminal justice with a minor in political science.
But he didn't grow up wanting to become a police officer.He originally took marketing classes until he saw the math requirements for the major.
His roommate, who was majoring in criminal justice, had a much more attractive course outline with fewer math classes, so he switched over.
During college, Anderson worked at the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library on campus and at Cobb Theater — later Fox 12 — first taking tickets and eventually working his way up to an assistant manager.
After graduation, he was ready to enter the work force and began as a patrol officer with TPD in 1994.He moved through the ranks quickly, serving as a patrol officer, a crisis negotiator, domestic violence and homicide investigator, patrol sergeant and public information officer before taking his current job.It was through work that he met his wife Marilyn, a victims' service officer for the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office, whom he married six years ago.
Other applicants for the chief's job had more years of experience, but Maddox said that Anderson stood out during the interview process.
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'Certainly on paper, Steve was a wild card entering the interview process,' Maddox said.
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