Making it official

Brent Bullock made the move from interim to acting Police Chief for the Graham Police Department Thursday after the Graham City Council approved his confirmation of appointment by City Manager Brandon Anderson.

Bullock was made interim chief in January after former chief Tony Widner announced his plans to retire August 2018 after 10 years as chief of GPD and 21 years as an employee of Graham. During a January city council meeting, the council voted to create a subcommittee to search for a replacement for Widner consisting of Anderson, Mayor Neal Blanton and Councilman Kyle Peavy.

“Tony left at the beginning of the year and our interim chief Brent Bullock has been filling in very capably since then, so we have got about six months worth of good information on him,” Anderson said. “Within the department we did a survey back about eight months ago and we have done a follow-up survey now after he has been in charge for six months.”

Anderson said there was a marked increase in some areas in the department during Bullock’s tenure as interim chief. A total of 38 applicants applied for the position from outside the city, Anderson said.

“A lot of qualified individuals to be sure, but at the same time we’ve also got a talent within our own ranks that is worthy of the job,” he said. “I was anxious to see what the results of the second survey were going to be and we had it down to a list of finalists, but at this point I really don’t want to waste other individuals time by bringing them here when I feel like the best fit for our job is Brent Bullock.”

For the rest of the story, see the Saturday, June 29 edition of The Graham Leader.