By Dale Barnett
Elmore/Autauga News
Top Photo: Newly appointed Tallassee Police Chief Todd Buce.
On Monday night, the Tallassee City Council finally made it official and named Todd Buce as the permanent police chief of Tallassee during the regular City Council meeting.
Council member Jeremy Taunton nominated Buce for the Chief position and was seconded by Fred R. Hughey. All the council members voted in favor except Council member Damian Carr.
The position has been open since December 14, 2021, when former Chief Matthews Higgins resigned.
The Council named Buce as the interim chief at the time, but for reasons never explained, the Council has never put the position open for bid or for applicants, nor was Buce officially named as chief until Monday.
The Council also named James Garner as the Utilities Manager for the City during the meeting. As for Police Chief Buce, he previously held the position of Captain at the time Higgins resigned and was the highest ranking officer at the time. Buce, who worked for the Montgomery Police Department from 1995 until he retired as a Lieutenant in 2015, came to the Tallassee Police Department in April 2017 with his vast experience in all facets of law enforcement.
But Chief Buce did not waste time nor sit idle while holding the interim title. He immediately put a plan in place to make improvements to the operations and structure of the police department.
Buce decided to make three divisions within the department, with each department head rank being lieutenant. Each division would report directly to Chief Buce. The department put out testing for promotions in order to fill those 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 department has manuals for day to day operating procedures, each division was instructed to come up with an operations manual.
Buce explained that this provided clarity, education, and policy to each division and creates accountability for each officer. Buce stated, “with the policy updated, it’s built morale, officers knew what they were accountable for handling and made the process easier for all involved.”
Lt. Jon Rawls, who came to the department in 2017 after 10 years with the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said “Chief Buce has made tremendous improvements to the department, has worked with the BOE to update the SRO division and to allow an officer at each school, developed operating manuals for each division, made much-needed improvements to the radio system and computer networking. All these items are making a big difference for the officers, the department, and our city.”
Chief Buce said the department has 22 sworn officers, two part time officers, one corrections officer, six dispatchers and one vital administrative assistant that helps keep everyone connected. Buce stated while the department is growing and is a large operation, it is not big enough to have positions between his office and each division leader at this time, but the system is now set up so future growth can easily accommodate additional positions as required in the future.
When asked about some of the improvements and changes to the department and operations, Buce acknowledged there have been many beneficial changes and improvements. Buce explained that in the past, the department had two full time SROs that floated between schools and that the crossing guards were part time positions, where many times the people did not show up or handle the jobs properly. There was an issue with the overtime for officers working school and sporting events.
Buce discovered that the department was under misinformation that the City was being reimbursed for half the salary of one SRO by the Tallassee Board of Education. After review, the TBOE was paying half the salary, but it was from a salary rate in 2008 of $30,000. Buce said thanks to a meeting with the Chief, Mayor of Tallassee Hammock, Lt. Brian Clayton and Tallassee Schools Superintendent Dr. Brock Nolin, many issues were resolved.
Buce could not express enough his appreciation for the TBOE and their assistance. Buce submitted a proposal to the TBOE for off duty police officers to handle the crossing guard duties, so the department had some accountability with those serious duties and could make the overtime and to staff a full time SRO at all three schools in the City.
The TBOE agreed to increase the payments to the City from the previous $15,000 to $76,000 to allow an SRO at each school starting this next school year. This just adds to the safety of the children, teens, teachers and community, plus saves funds for the City.
Buce also discussed vital improvements to the server system. Buce uncovered the agreement the department had with Southern Software created over payments for services the department never used. After meetings with Southern Software, it was agreed that due to the initial overpayment, the department would not owe Southern Software for their services until 2025 saving the City more funds.
Buce worked with Chris Dozier, the Elmore County 911 Director, for new servers and to make a dedicated server room in the police department building. Buce said working with the Tallapoosa County 911 Board, they agreed to pay $6,500 towards equipping the new dedicated server room with an air conditioning system and electrical service.
Buce also worked with David Rogers, Tallassee Deputy Fire Chief, to improve the radios used by the officers. Rogers writes the grants for the departments and was able to write and deliver for approval a federal grant for $165,000 for radios for the fire department and 20 handheld radios for the police department.
The department has made it a priority to update their training resources for every officer, including recent state and federal updated requirements. Buce wants each officer to be fully trained and educated in their duties for the safety, morale and well-being of the officers and the citizens.
While Buce admits he has worked hard to implement improvements, he said they “have just scratched the surface and wants to keep moving forward, stay advanced and be an example to other departments of an efficient operation that is there to serve and protect their fellow citizens.”
When asked why he would put that much effort into everything while holding just an interim title and the Council could always select someone else for Chief, Buce simply stated, “because it is my job until the Council made a decision and I have a duty to my fellow officers and citizens.”
Buce said “We have got a lot going on in Tallassee and it is such a beautiful city with great people. I really want to see better relations within our communities and businesses. We want citizens to move here because of the beauty of the town, the great schools, community and businesses and our excellent first responders. Citizens should feel safe and secure. Plus, I want our officers to have a good career. People don’t become rich being police officers, it is a calling, but those officers should have a good living. I want every officer to know they have the same chance as me to move up through the ranks and maybe one day sit in my seat.”
Buce closed the interview stating, “I want to leave the department and the city better than when I started.”
