FORTVILLE — A 15-year member of the town’s police department is now at its helm.
The Fortville Town Council voted to make Patrick Bratton police chief last week.
Bratton, formerly a major with the police department, had been interim chief following the retirement of Bill Knauer earlier this month.
“I’m excited,” Bratton said. “I’m going to be able to hit the ground running. I’ve been there for 15 years; I know the ins and outs of the department. … I want to see the town grow and strive.”
Before joining the Fortville Police Department, Bratton had served in the Indianapolis Public Schools Police Department since 2001.
He said he looks forward to collaborating with the town council, town manager and the police department’s staff, which includes nine full-time officers and eight reserve volunteers.
“We want to do what’s best for the citizens and make sure the community’s safe,” he said.
One initiative he’d like to pursue as chief is getting license plate readers for the town. The devices can be placed throughout town to read license plates and assist in the solving of crimes. Bratton said officers would be able to access them and that data collected by the devices could be shared to assist other agencies as well.
“One of the big projects I have set for ‘21 is to get those installed and get those enabled and make the county and community a safer place,” he said.{p dir=”ltr”}Bratton said the technology could have been effective in finding who was behind the recent vandalism at downtown sushi restaurant Bonsai Fortville, whose windows were broken out this week for the second time in just over a year.
The town’s police commission unanimously recommended Bratton for the position. Town council members voted 4-1 to approve the appointment, with Tonya Davis, Fritz Fentz, Robert Holland and Libby Wyatt voting in favor and Becky Davis voting against.
“It was just a logical choice he would take the position,” Fentz said of Bratton. “He’s done a great job.”
Becky Davis said she felt the position should have been advertised, however.
“I just think we should see who’s out there,” she said. “They say Patrick’s qualified, and I’m sure he is. I have always liked Patrick, but I just felt like we should’ve advertised and seen what kind of offers we got. … It was nothing against Patrick, nothing against his qualifications.”
Tonya Davis didn’t think it was necessary to do too extensive of a search.
“Patrick has an amazing resume,” she said. “He’s definitely qualified. I just felt like we didn’t need to really look outside our ranks.”
The public knows and supports Bratton too, Tonya Davis continued, adding he’s approachable, friendly and task-oriented.
Bratton’s 15 years with the department had an effect on her decision too.
“He has a genuine care, I think, for the community, that would probably lack if you went outside and found somebody else,” she said.
