First Runner Up: Fort Smith, Ark., Police Chief Nathaniel Clark
The Police Chief of Fort Smith Arkansas, Nathaniel Clark, has had a long career in law enforcement, and over his decades of public safety leadership, has developed forward-thinking, progressive ideas regarding police work. For this dedication to his community and profession, Clark has been named this year’s first runner-up.
“I believe in public service. There is no greater profession than public service,” Clark says. “What attracted me to law enforcement was that I wanted to make a positive impact on the quality of life for all people. In my opinion, law enforcement is that profession where you can make the most positive impact on others.”
After he assumed command at Fort Smith in 2017, his first order of business was to bridge the gap between the department and the community it served. Clark sought to achieve this goal by establishing several outreach initiatives, with community policing in mind. These include the coffee with the chief program, where community members can interact with their police department in a non-confrontational way to get to know the officers and express concerns they might have; the Ballin’ with 5-0 program, a basketball game between police officers and the community; and the chief for a day program, where residents have the opportunity to walk in law enforcement’s shoes.
Clark also established two advisory boards – one for citizens and one for rank and file officers – to understand the needs on both sides of the force, and to better understand how those needs should be addressed.
“I’m a firm believer that the citizens that we serve are our most important asset,” Clark says. “Without the citizens, there would be no need for us. The citizens are doing us a favor by allowing us to serve them… I believe in enhanced communication with the community, focusing on providing a customer friendly service delivery and providing a service that’s second to none in the nation.”
Clark also understands the importance of diversity. A police force should be representative of the community it serves, he says, and ideally, be made up of members of that community. Under his direction, last year Fort Smith hired 13 female officers – more than existed in the entire history of the agency. Additionally, January 2018’s new recruits were the most diverse group in the department’s history, coming from a variety of different backgrounds. In August of 2018, Clark hired the first African American female sworn officer.
Clark’s leadership and philosophy regarding policing have been transformative in his department and community. “I firmly believe Chief Clark is one of the most community-oriented law enforcement officers in the country,” Sergeant Wendall Sampson of the Fort Smith Police Department wrote in his nomination. “The value of this relationship building has been seen in the significant decline in reported crimes in Fort Smith to the lowest numbers in 3 years.”