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From YouTube: Q&A with BPD: Farewell to Chief Jeff Potts
Description
In his final episode of Q&A with BPD, Chief Jeff Potts reflects on his 29 years serving the department.
A
You
know,
we've
gotten
a
lot
of
questions
over
the
last
couple
years
and
we
developed
this
series
of
q
a
with
bpd
to
answer
questions
from
the
community
and
it's
been
a
lot
of
fun
to
do
this.
But
I
have
to
tell
you
that
today
is
my
last
episode.
I
will
be
retiring
and
january.
31St
will
be
my
last
day
and
I
have
enjoyed
all
29
years
of
my
career
here
at
the
bloomington
police
department.
We
tried
to
do
some
new
things,
some
innovative
things
like
q,
a
with
bpd.
A
This
is
an
effort
to
be
more
transparent,
with
the
community
share,
more
information
about
the
bloomington
police
department
answer
questions,
and
I
have
to
give
you
credit
to
the
community
for
asking
some
really
good
questions.
Since
we
began
doing
this
today,
we're
going
to
answer
some
questions
about
my
experiences
here
in
bloomington
over
the
last
29
years
and
as
the
last
12
years
as
a
police
chief.
I
started
here
in
december
of
1991,
so
just
over
29
years
ago.
At
that
time
I
was
working
at
the
rapids
police
department.
A
As
a
community
service
officer,
I
applied
to
work
in
a
few
different
places,
really
hoping
to
get
some
interview
experience
so
that
I
could
hopefully
get
a
job
as
a
full-time
officer
in
rapids,
and
I
got
an
interview
in
bloomington.
I
didn't
really
know
the
bloomington
reputation
at
the
time,
but
I
was
selected
to
move
on
and
ultimately
got
a
job
offer,
and
one
of
the
sergeants
at
the
rapids
police
department
told
me
you'd,
be
a
fool
to
pass
up
that
job
opportunity,
because
bloomington
is
a
great
place
to
work.
A
It
kind
of
hit
me
by
surprise,
and
it
actually
is
what
made
me
decide
to
take
the
job
and
I've
never
regretted
it.
So
I
became
the
chief
here
in
november
of
2008.
At
that
time
there
had
been
outside
chiefs,
who
had
come
in
and
been
our
police
chiefs
for
about
40
years
in
2008.
I
had
been
with
the
department
for
about
19
years,
and
I
wanted
to
do
this
because
I
felt
like
I
knew
the
the
department
I
knew
quite
a
bit
about
the
community.
A
You
know
I
kind
of
understood
the
challenges
and
I
thought
I
think
I
have
some
some
things
to
offer
to
this
position.
So
I
put
my
name
in
the
hat
and
fortunate
enough
to
be
selected.
The
two
areas
that
I've
seen
the
biggest
change
is
in
technology.
There
is
so
much
more
technology
in
the
police
cars
the
officers
have
with
them
on
their
person
at
any
given
time
and
then
the
second
thing
is
the
amount
of
community
engagement
work
that
we
do.
Those
two
areas
have
changed
so
much
in
the
last
12
years.
A
There's
been
a
few
initiatives.
I
think
the
crisis
intervention
training
for
our
police
officers
has
been
really
important
in
helping
us
get
better
at
dealing
with
people
who
are
in
crisis,
beginning
the
embedded
social
worker
program,
because
we
know
there
are
a
lot
of
people
in
our
community
that
just
need
some
additional
services
and
before
we
had
our
social
worker.
That
process
would
just
take
too
long.
A
The
physical
and
mental
wellness
programs
for
our
staff,
making
sure
that
the
police
officers,
who
are
now
getting
annual
mental
health
checkups
that
we're
taking
care
of
them
emotionally
and
mentally
as
well.
The
physical
fitness
wellness
program,
because
we
know
that
police
officers
have
a
physical
job,
it's
demanding
and
making
sure
that
they
have
the
time
some
duty
time
to
stay
in
shape.
A
Developing
our
social
media
platform
to
help
you
know,
communicate
with
the
community
has
been
an
important
initiative
and
really
using
that
as
a
tool
to
interact
with
the
community
about
police
incidents
that
are
happening
within
the
community,
but
just
sharing
more
information,
crime
prevention
techniques,
sharing
more
information
about
the
police
officers.
Talking
about
some
of
the
good
stories
that
happen
becoming
a
partner
in
the
joint
community
police
partnership
or
the
jcpp
has
been
an
initiative
that
I'm
really
proud
of
and
within
the
jcpp
we
formed
our
mac.
A
A
Deputy
chief
hartley,
mike
hartley,
has
been
with
the
department
for
about
23
years,
he's
going
to
be
filling
in
as
the
acting
police
chief.
When
I
leave
and
mike-
and
I
have
worked
together
for
a
really
long
time,
mike
is
very
well
prepared
and
you
guys
will
be
in
good
hands
with
deputy
chief
hartley.
B
As
the
interim
chief,
I
plan
on
continuing
with
the
programs
that
chief
potts
has
instilled
in
the
last
12
years.
A
strong
commitment
to
community
engagement
also
just
continue
to
roll
out
ways
to
be
more
transparent
as
a
police
department.
Looking
at
putting
in
place
a
data
dashboard
where
residents
and
people
can
look
and
see
everything
from
calls
for
service
to
use
of
force
reports,
the
q,
a
segment
will
continue
with
me
as
interim,
and
I
really
look
forward
to
hearing
from
the
community.
B
As
we've
always
said
in
the
past,
we
cannot
police
the
city
on
our
own.
We
need
the
help
of
the
public
and
the
residents
and
the
business
owners
and
those
that
all
benefit
from
a
safe
bloomington,
and
so,
as
we
roll
out
issues
on
down
the
road
of
the
q,
a
please
by
all
means
send
in
your
questions
and
we'll
get
those
answered.
Well.
Thank.
A
You
to
deputy
chief
hartley
for
stepping
in
to
be
our
interim
police
chief.
It's
been
an
honor
and
a
privilege
to
serve
the
community
of
bloomington
for
the
past
29
years
it's
been
an
even
bigger
honor
to
have
the
opportunity
to
be
your
police
chief
for
the
last
12
years.
I
want
to
thank
you
for
being
a
great
community.
I
want
to
thank
the
organization
and
the
city
for
being
a
great
place
to
work.
I
think
you're
in
great
hands
here
with
deputy
chief
hartley
on
into
the
future.