Todd Buce Officially Named as new Tallassee Police Chief – Elmore-Autauga News

By Dale Barnett

Elmore/Autauga News

Top Photo: Newly appointed Tallassee Police Chief Todd Buce.

On Monday night time, the Tallassee City Council lastly made it official and named Todd Buce as the everlasting police chief of Tallassee through the common City Council assembly. 

Council member Jeremy Taunton nominated Buce for the Chief place and was seconded by Fred R. Hughey. All the council members voted in favor besides Council member Damian Carr. 

The place has been open since December 14, 2021, when former Chief Matthews Higgins resigned.

The Council named Buce as the interim chief on the time, however for causes by no means defined, the Council has by no means put the place open for bid or for candidates, nor was Buce formally named as chief till Monday.

The Council additionally named James Garner as the Utilities Manager for the City through the assembly. As for Police Chief Buce, he beforehand held the place of Captain on the time Higgins resigned and was the best rating officer on the time. Buce, who labored for the Montgomery Police Department from 1995 till he retired as a Lieutenant in 2015, got here to the Tallassee Police Department in April 2017 along with his huge expertise in all aspects of legislation enforcement. 

But Chief Buce didn’t waste time nor sit idle whereas holding the interim title. He instantly put a plan in place to make enhancements to the operations and construction of the police division.

Buce determined to make three divisions throughout the division, with every division head rank being lieutenant. Each division would report on to Chief Buce. The division put out testing for promotions so as to fill these positions. The three divisions are the Patrol Division, led by Lt. Chris Howard, Criminal Investigations led by Lt. Jon Rawls and School Resource officers (SRO) led by Lt. Brian Clayton. While the division has manuals for daily working procedures, every division was instructed to give you an operations guide.

Buce defined that this supplied readability, schooling, and coverage to every division and creates accountability for every officer. Buce said, “with the coverage up to date, it’s constructed morale, officers knew what they have been accountable for dealing with and made the method simpler for all concerned.” 

Lt. Jon Rawls, who got here to the division in 2017 after 10 years with the Board of Pardons and Paroles, mentioned “Chief Buce has made super enhancements to the division, has labored with the BOE to replace the SRO division and to permit an officer at every college, developed working manuals for every division, made much-needed enhancements to the radio system and pc networking. All this stuff are making an enormous distinction for the officers, the division, and our metropolis.” 

Chief Buce mentioned the division has 22 sworn officers, two half time officers, one corrections officer, six dispatchers and one very important administrative assistant that helps hold everybody related. Buce said whereas the division is rising and is a big operation, it’s not large enough to have positions between his workplace and every division chief right now, however the system is now arrange so future development can simply accommodate further positions as required sooner or later. 

When requested about among the enhancements and modifications to the division and operations, Buce acknowledged there have been many helpful modifications and enhancements. Buce defined that previously, the division had two full time SROs that floated between colleges and that the crossing guards have been half time positions, the place many instances the individuals didn’t present up or deal with the roles correctly. There was a problem with the time beyond regulation for officers working college and sporting occasions.

Buce found that the division was below misinformation that the City was being reimbursed for half the wage of 1 SRO by the Tallassee Board of Education. After evaluation, the TBOE was paying half the wage, however it was from a wage fee in 2008 of $30,000. Buce mentioned because of a gathering with the Chief, Mayor of Tallassee Hammock, Lt. Brian Clayton and Tallassee Schools Superintendent Dr. Brock Nolin, many points have been resolved.

Buce couldn’t specific sufficient his appreciation for the TBOE and their help. Buce submitted a proposal to the TBOE for off responsibility cops to deal with the crossing guard duties, so the division had some accountability with these critical duties and will make the time beyond regulation and to employees a full time SRO in any respect three colleges within the City.

The TBOE agreed to extend the funds to the City from the earlier $15,000 to $76,000 to permit an SRO at every college beginning this subsequent college yr. This simply provides to the protection of the youngsters, teenagers, lecturers and group, plus saves funds for the City. 

Buce additionally mentioned very important enhancements to the server system. Buce uncovered the settlement the division had with Southern Software created over funds for companies the division by no means used. After conferences with Southern Software, it was agreed that as a result of preliminary overpayment, the division wouldn’t owe Southern Software for his or her companies till 2025 saving the City extra funds.

Buce labored with Chris Dozier, the Elmore County 911 Director, for new servers and to make a devoted server room within the police division constructing. Buce mentioned working with the Tallapoosa County 911 Board, they agreed to pay $6,500 in the direction of equipping the new devoted server room with an air con system and electrical service.

Buce additionally labored with David Rogers, Tallassee Deputy Fire Chief, to enhance the radios utilized by the officers. Rogers writes the grants for the departments and was in a position to write and ship for approval a federal grant for $165,000 for radios for the fireplace division and 20 handheld radios for the police division. 

The division has made it a precedence to replace their coaching sources for each officer, together with latest state and federal up to date necessities. Buce desires every officer to be totally educated and educated of their duties for the protection, morale and well-being of the officers and the residents. 

While Buce admits he has labored exhausting to implement enhancements, he mentioned they “have simply scratched the floor and needs to maintain transferring ahead, keep superior and be an instance to different departments of an environment friendly operation that’s there to serve and shield their fellow residents.”

When requested why he would put that a lot effort into the whole lot whereas holding simply an interim title and the Council may all the time choose another person for Chief, Buce merely said, “as a result of it’s my job till the Council decided and I’ve an obligation to my fellow officers and residents.” 

Buce mentioned “We have gotten rather a lot occurring in Tallassee and it’s such an exquisite metropolis with nice individuals. I actually need to see higher relations inside our communities and companies. We need residents to maneuver right here due to the fantastic thing about the city, the good colleges, group and companies and our glorious first responders. Citizens ought to really feel secure and safe. Plus, I need our officers to have a very good profession. People don’t turn into wealthy being cops, it’s a calling, however these officers ought to have a very good dwelling. I need each officer to know they’ve the identical likelihood as me to maneuver up by way of the ranks and perhaps at some point sit in my seat.” 

Buce closed the interview stating, “I need to depart the division and town higher than once I began.”