Ronal W. Serpas, Ph. D.
Chief of Police -
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
Ronal W. Serpas was appointed the sixth Police Chief in Metropolitan Nashville Police Department history in January 2004. He is now a 29-year law enforcement veteran, having served as Chief of the Washington State Patrol (WSP) for 2½ years before coming to Nashville. Prior to his tenure in Washington, Chief Serpas retired as the Assistant Superintendent of Police and the first Chief of Operations of the New Orleans Police Department charged with implementing wide scale organization restructuring, initiating the CompStat model in the NOPD and leading all patrol, investigative, special response units and community-policing functions. Chief Serpas received his Doctorate in Urban Studies, with an emphasis in Urban Crime, from the University of New Orleans (a Louisiana State University System school).
During Chief Serpas’ tenure in Nashville, overall major crime has fallen each year to levels not seen since 1985. The year 2008 represents the fifth consecutive year that crime reports and the crime rate has fallen in Nashville – the overall crime rate is at a 23 year low. Nashville continues in 2009 to experience double digit crime reduction. The MNPD’s El Protector program, established in 2005, was recently recognized as a “best practice” by the Vera Institute of Justice in providing police service across the language divide. While Chief of the WSP unparalleled increases in trooper activity resulted in a 37% increase in DUI arrest and a 22% decrease in interstate fatalities, as well as demonstrable success in detective functions, Fire Marshall Services and statewide Crime Lab efficiencies. The WSP was awarded the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) “Chiefs Challenge” and the “Clayton J. Hall Memorial Award” during his tenure as Chief. As the Chief of Operations of the NOPD from October 1996 to July 2001, the City of New Orleans led the nation in violent crime reduction for the years 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
In addition to Chief Serpas’ law enforcement career, he has served as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Loyola University New Orleans, teaching graduate, and undergraduate courses from 1993 to 2001. Chief Serpas has published several articles on the Accountability Driven Leadership management philosophy he created (Beyond Compstat: Accountability Driven Leadership; The Next Step in Accountability Driven Leadership: Compstating the Compstat Data; and, Accountability Driven Leadership: Assessing Quality versus Quantity), gun violence in America (Illegal Gun Crimes: A View from the Streets), police disciplinary systems (An Employee Disciplinary System that Makes Sense) and the need for actionable research to help guide American police executives serve as references to others who are interested in his style of management.
Chief Serpas continues to participate and contribute on the national and international level of police leadership through his recent appointment to the IACP Executive Committee which is the governing and policy making body of the IACP, providing oversight and direction to the IACP, and his service as Co-Chair of the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of the IACP. The IACP is the world's oldest and largest nonprofit membership organization of police executives, in existence for 115 years, with over 20,000 members in over 89 different countries. IACP's leadership consists of the operating chief executives of international, federal, state and local agencies of all sizes. The RAC unites police executives and academic leaders to create and publish an annual research agenda to find potential solutions addressing the many and significant concerns throughout the criminal justice system here in the United States and abroad.
Chief Serpas’ view of police success is straightforward, “When we use the Community Policing philosophy to direct our crime fighting and quality of life initiatives, and utilize the principles of Accountability Driven Leadership to relentlessly strive for department wide improvement, we can make a difference every day in our neighborhoods.”