Chris Lucco is New Police Chief

Chris Lucoo will be the new chief of the City of Bradford Police Department, and Mike Ward will be the assistant chief, effective tomorrow morning.

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By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director

Chris Lucco has been named the new chief of the City of Bradford Police Department, and Mike Ward has been named assistant chief.

Bradford Mayor Tom Riel called the men earlier tonight to ask them if they would accept the positions. After they did, Riel made the announcement to the media.

The appointments are effective at 10:30 a.m. Friday. Lucco replaces Mike Close, who retired on March 17.

Riel said he interviewed nine current members of the police department who were interested in the job. The interview process lasted about 10 days, and the length of the interviews ranged from an hour and a half to four hours.

“We discussed a multitude of issues. I gained a vast amount of knowledge from the folks who were interviewed,” Riel said. “I would officially like to thank everyone who expressed an interest, and I think I learned something from each and every interview.”

He said all the people he interviewed gave him great ideas on how to make the police department better.

“Employees’ opinions and advice are invaluable to any organization, and that holds true with the police department,” Riel said, adding that some of those ideas will be used in the ongoing efforts to reform and modernize the department.

Riel said more than one police officer who wasn’t chosen to be chief was capable of being chief. He said the decision was not based on who was in the department the longest, who made the most arrests or “who smiled the most.”

He said there were “numerous factors to weigh,” among those were the person’s ability to work with him, to put past differences aside and to be a good communicator.

“It was a tough decision,” Riel said. “When you interview nine people and you can realize you can only pick one -- it’s a tough thing to do.”

He said he believes Lucco and Ward will “serve the city of Bradford and the police department very well.”

Riel also said both men share his vision “to continue to make positive, progressive changes to the City of Bradford Police Department.”