Sunday, November 22, 2009

ONGOING COVERAGE: POLICE CHIEF SEARCH

Deputy chief's roots go to Expo

Roberts only internal candidate for chief

Spokane Deputy Chief Bruce Roberts is one of four finalists for the police chief position. (JED CONKLIN The Spokesman-Review ) Related information Read more

Jody Lawrence-Turner
Staff writer
July 7, 2006

This the third story in a four-part series.

A stroll through Riverfront Park is like a trip back through time for Deputy Spokane Police Chief Bruce Roberts, who walked a downtown beat as a rookie during Expo '74.

Roberts can point to which Spokane streets his dad, Clyde, helped engineer, and to the local stores where he and his grandfather built grocery stands years ago.

If a police chief position had opened up anywhere other than Spokane, Roberts said he probably wouldn't have applied.

"I've never applied to another department as a chief or as an officer," Roberts said. "It's never been my goal to move on. I have a long-standing commitment to this community."

ADVERTISEMENT

As the only internal candidate among the four finalists for Spokane's top cop, Roberts faces a difficult balancing act.

His knowledge of the community and the police force gives him a partial advantage. But it doesn't necessarily give him an edge, in part because he already holds an executive leadership role and the city would continue to benefit from those strengths regardless of who is chosen as the next chief.

But the 31-year departmental veteran hopes to have more than input. He wants to be in charge of the police force that protects his community.

"When (acting Chief Jim) Nicks decided he didn't want to run for chief, he left a void," Roberts said. "And when the city decided to do a large scale search, I was concerned no one else at the department would apply."

The deputy chief has strong feelings about preserving relationships that the Police Department has established in all areas of the community, some of which Roberts has had a hand in.

With the Police Department still struggling for cash, the partnerships with Community Oriented Policing Services' volunteers, the Spokane Transit Authority, Spokane Public Schools District 81, and Gonzaga and Washington State universities, are important to assisting the police, he said.

"We have some great partnerships, and that's one of the reasons, frankly, I applied to be chief," Roberts said. "It's a tremendous community. It merited my commitment to carry on what I'm not sure an outside chief would understand. I'm not certain that someone who is just looking for advancement would care about maintaining and continuing our partnerships with the community."

Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker, who has interacted with Roberts in a variety of leadership forums, said the deputy chief's knowledge of the area is obvious.

"He's got a good breadth of knowledge about how and what works in Spokane," Walker said. And Roberts is a team player: "He has always been very easy to work with."

Roberts was raised in the Spokane Valley and is the oldest of four brothers. Roberts has raised two daughters and a son in the area.

The deputy chief has been a bachelor since the late 1980s when he went through a contentious divorce, which included allegations of threatening behavior on his part after discovering his estranged wife with another man 10 days after they separated. Roberts acknowledges it was a difficult time in his life but disputes any suggestion that he put his wife in danger, noting the claims were made during a custody battle for their children and were later dropped.

Roberts responded openly to questions about the allegations but expressed disappointment that anything from such an emotionally charged period in his personal life would be relevant now.

Only Roberts' closest friends know much about his off-duty life, because the deputy chief tends to keep his private life private.

"He's kept a bright line between his personal and professional life," Acting Chief Jim Nicks said.

Roberts' passion for police work was born during his first months on the job working a foot beat in the downtown area during Expo '74. During that time, Roberts said he discovered not only the gratification of catching the bad guys but also the fulfillment of comforting the victims of tragedies.

"I had a piece of something then that I'm trying to maintain now," Roberts said.

In Roberts' 31 years with the department , he has worked in almost every unit of the Police Department.

"He knows our department inside and out," said Nicks. "He's very competent and capable. He's very detail oriented and methodical in his approach."

But when Roberts was asked about his biggest case, he wouldn't take credit for solving anything on his own. "Any major case involved multiple people, and solving those was a matter of teamwork," he said.

In addition to helping run the Spokane Police Department along with Nicks and Deputy Chief Al Odenthal, Roberts is also in charge of the department's Volunteer Services Unit, which is composed of more than 100 people.

"I get hundreds and thousands of hours from volunteers for our department," Roberts said. "I couldn't function without them."

The deputy chief's gratefulness for Spokane residents transfers to his belief that citizen oversight could be beneficial to both the community and the Police Department.

"A police department withers and flourishes based on that partnership of trust between the community and law enforcement," Roberts said. "Citizen oversight would help establish that trust, where a committee could say, 'Yes, people are complaining about the police, but the police are doing their job right.' It's a validation for the public."

Roberts feels his participation outside the department has also helped build connections with others in city, county and state organizations and leadership capacities.

The deputy chief has spearheaded the department's disaster and emergency preparedness efforts and serves on various state and local boards and committees, including the Governor's Committee on Homeland Security.

Spokane Fire Department Chief Bobby Williams, who has worked with Roberts in numerous professional capacities, described Roberts as "straightforward and professional."

The deputy chief said he applies the ethics his father "drilled" into him as a young man to his work now, which are to be trustworthy, honest, thrifty and reverent.

Roberts also believes in the philosophy of leaving something better than the way he found it, which he said he would do if he's selected as the next police chief.

"If I couldn't do that, I don't know that I'd even apply," he said.