Steve Anderson capped 36 years in the Nashville Police Department yesterday when Mayor Karl Dean appointed him the new chief of police, reports The Tennessean. Anderson served as interim chief since May, when he said he would not apply for the full-time job. As it turned out, Anderson was the only applicant after Dean decided not to conduct a national search.
The reserved, soft-spoken Anderson stands in stark contrast to his predecessor, Ronal Serpas, known for his gregarious personality during his six years in charge of the department. Anderson said he would keep many of the same policies in place that guided Serpas’ time as the top cop, especially Compstat, the statistics-driven policing method. “I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between Chief Serpas and I,” Anderson said. “We agreed on most every goal that should be attained. We sometimes disagreed on how to get to that. He presents himself as a very strong personality. My personality is just as strong, I’m just not as vocal about it.”