CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- It was a controversial move for Clarksville's council to replace the town's former police chief. However, new chief Nathan Walls is no stranger to the department he's working to improve.
"I've kind of kind of worn all the hats around here at some point," Walls said.
Walls has done it all in his 16 years with the Clarksville Police Department. He's been a patrol officer, narcotics detective, internal affairs investigator, and hostage negotiator, among other things. On January 2, he added a new title to the list: police chief.
"We've hit the ground running," Walls said while looking at old photos of him on the job, "It kind of keeps me somewhat grounded to remember where I came from."
Walls didn't get this job under the best of circumstances. He was installed after a tense council meeting and a 4-3 vote in January. Emotions ran high as Walls replaced former chief Mark Palmer, but he didn't let that get to him.
"I couldn't get caught up in the noise of all that stuff," Walls said. "None of that stuff has anything to do with protecting our town."
Palmer now serves as the town's first safety director.
During his first 90 days as chief, Walls has introduced new initiatives to the department. He's already expanded his officers' tool kit, and works with a recovery organization to end the cycle of addiction in his community.
These are some of the items distributed to people who have survived overdoses in Clark County.
Within three days of a drug overdose, a Project CARE employee accompanies an officer to the survivor's door. They leave behind kits containing Narcan, band-aids, and Clark county resource guides.
"The mental health stuff is important to me because my wife was a psych nurse," Walls said. "Hopefully we don't need them, but like all of our tools, if we need them, they're there."
Thursday morning, Clarksville officers received kits filled with sensory toys to help people with autism. The kit contains items like stress balls, Rubix cubes, noise canceling headphones, and fidget spinners. The kits also have communication boards for people who are nonverbal.
The kit has toys such as stress balls and fidget spinners.
"When someone's nonverbal, they can point to tell officers where they're hurt," Walls said.
Walls is also responsible for initiating internal improvements to the department.
"We're creating a peer support team," he explained. "This is revolutionizing police work in our department."
Chief Walls is boosting officer morale while bringing a fresh perspective to Clarksville policing.
"The community's going to tell us their needs," Walls said. "We're gonna see what's going on, and adapt police work to the needs of the community."
Police vehicles are parked outside the Clarksville Police Department headquarters.
While he's letting Clarksville residents decide what's next for the department, Walls hopes to get new police cars and add a traffic division to monitor neighborhood traffic and make sure kids get home safe from school.
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