Changes coming with new Evansville police, fire chiefs

EVANSVILLE — The new public faces of Evansville's police and fire departments presented similar visions for inclusivity, transparency and community engagement Monday — but residents may find their personal styles are different.

Moments after Mayor Stephanie Terry named him police chief at Monday's public announcement in the Civic Center, Phil Smith acknowledged with a grin that he is "an emotional guy."

Smith, assistant police chief under former Chief Billy Bolin for the past three-plus years and an 11-year EPD veteran, pointed out several family members who attended Monday's event. When the moment came to acknowledge Bolin, who also attended, Smith pledged to do so without crying.

"Chief Bolin has been a trailblazer," said Smith, 39. "He’s led EPD through some of the toughest times of our profession, and that our profession's ever faced. He’s been a leader. He's been a visionary, a mentor and, more importantly, a friend. I aspire to live up to the legacy that you leave behind."

Smith said afterward that he expects to name his own assistant police chief "before week's end."

"I’m passionate about this community," said Smith, who began his career as a patrol officer in 2013. "I’m passionate about our officers. And I want to do a good job."

Tony Knight, Terry's choice to lead the Evansville Fire Department, recalled after the announcement that he and his wife, Kerri, were pleased to learn last week that he would be named chief — but emotions didn't run high.

"We’re subdued individuals," Knight said with a smile. "I’m more relaxed, more calm. A little more poised."

At the beginning of his 20-year career at EFD, Knight said, he didn't see a fire chief staring back at him when he looked in the mirror. Only in the past few years did Knight, most recently the department's chief of health and safety, start to think of himself as potentially a departmental leader.

"I wanted to reach the rank of district chief, and that was it," said Knight, 48. "I didn’t want to go any farther. But then as you begin to progress in the career, you begin to see things and you begin to become more educated — then you start to think, ‘Well, maybe I could do that next step up, or maybe the step up beyond that.’"

More: Evansville's fire chief resigned without explanation. The city won't talk about it

Terry: About a dozen candidate for the two jobs

Terry made her final decisions on a new police chief and fire chief last week, she said. The new mayor recalled that five candidates applied for police chief and seven for fire chief.

Before Terry decided a year ago to run for mayor, Smith's name was frequently bandied about as a possible candidate to succeed then-Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, a Republican. Smith and Terry are Democrats. Smith even filed a candidate exploratory committee in August 2022, but he ultimately decided to yield to Terry.

Then-Chief Bolin publicly supported Terry during last year's fall general election campaign, giving as one of his reasons that that the Democrat would be more likely than Republican nominee Natalie Rascher to elevate Smith to chief.

On Monday Terry hailed Smith's "extensive experience in community engagement," noting that he was recognized in 2020 by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr with the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in Policing.

Terry also noted Knight's "proven track record of implementing innovative safety measures" as EFD's chief of health and safety and pointed out that the new fire chief has been a licensed paramedic for 21 years. Knight also was a curriculum development specialist with the Indiana Fire and Public Safety Academy, Terry said, and a hazardous materials specialist with Indiana FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue Task Force One.

Knight said his son, Chase, is a probationary firefighter with the Owensboro (Ky.) Fire Department, having spent several years in the U.S. Army as a military policeman. The new fire chief has a brother who is an undercover officer with EPD, he said.

New chiefs make promises

• Smith noted in answer to a question that he is not Evansville's first Black police chief. That was Marvin Guest Sr. But, Smith said, he was the city's first Black assistant chief.

• Smith promised the Evansville Police Department will "increase our efforts, starting with our parks."

"We want our citizens and visitors to be able to enjoy our parks and expect to see an officer during their visits in the park," the new police chief said.

• Smith also promised to encourage ambitious police officers to seek advancement in their areas of interest to maximize EPD's use of its human assets.

"I’m going to challenge our unit commanders to come up with inter-departmental documents that outline specific trends, trainings and unit collaboration opportunities for officers looking to advance their careers in areas of interest," he said. "That also gives the unit commander a cue for officers that are willing and wanting to join things like SWAT or Investigations."

• The new police chief pledged to create "a chief’s multi-cultural collaboration table with spiritual leaders and ethnic leaders in the community so that they can have a sit-down face-to-face with the chief to talk about issues that their segment of the population may be facing."

• In an effort to broaden recruitment, Knight pledged that EFD will reach out to such organizations as HOLA Evansville and the Evansville Black Coalition to reach "those groups and communities that we don’t typically see applying for the Evansville Fire Department."

"And oftentimes it’s because they just don’t know what’s required," the new fire chief said. "So if we can educate, create those partnerships, we can help strengthen the amount of recruitment that we have."

• Knight cautioned that residents shouldn't expect new fire houses anytime in the next couple of years at least. The high cost will send him in search of "alternative funding mechanisms," he said.

"’Some of our stations are approaching 80 years old," he said. "But with that, that’s a big, hefty price tag that comes associated with those. Your standard two-bay fire station runs anywhere from four to eight-million dollars."

• Terry announced her intention to seek an in-house legal team for the city, as opposed to hiring an outside law firm as past administrations have done. Instead, Terry will seek to hire an attorney to work out of the mayor’s office and to focus exclusively on the city's issues. She said that would be more efficient.

Because that plan would involve creating a new position in city government, Terry said, it requires the City Council's approval. Terry said she will bring her recommendation to the council in its Feb. 12 meeting.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Changes coming with new Evansville police, fire chiefs