Tulsa Mayor Names Chuck Jordan Police Chief

Newson6.com & Emory Bryan, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Mayor Dewey Bartlett named Chuck Jordan as Tulsa Police Chief at a news conference Friday morning.  Jordan was serving as interim Chief since January of this year.

10/27//2010 Related story: Tulsa Mayor Expects Decision On Police Chief Soon

Jordan was one of seven external candidates screened for the job, but was the only external candidate interviewed by the search committee.

He promised to be tough on crime, but talked most about rooting out problems within the ranks of TPD.

"I love this police department and I love this community and that is exactly what fuels my passion to make sure we go back to what we were, a police department the community can trust and have faith in," he said.

Jordan's law enforcement career began at TPD and continued at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. In between he spent two years training officers in Kosovo.

His promotion from interim to chief came after Bartlett and a search committee first rejected two candidates inside TPD, before considering six others outside the department.

"The candidates that appeared to be qualified were all from out of state and did not appear to be familiar, at all, with Tulsa," Bartlett said.

Jordan enjoys a cordial relationship with the police union and with the Tulsa City Council.

Worked with him a lot don't always agree, but I'm not ever going to always agree with everyone, but when it comes down to it, he's going to do what's right and that's what I worry about more than anything," said Tulsa City Councilor Jack Henderson.

Jordan has made changes in how TPD handles staffing and schedules and ran the department during the layoff and hirebacks during the past year.  He says he's been waiting to make other changes at the top.

"I wasn't going to make any big movement in personnel and probably won't for another month or so, and that's not necessarily negative movement, it may be positive movement," he said.

Mayor Bartlett said he's moving the job back into civil service, meaning the Chief will work for the department, not the mayor.

Bartlett said it will insulate the chief from the politics of the mayor's office. As interim, Jordan is paid $100,000 a year but his salary as chief has not been set.