After serving for over a decade as chief of police, Springville’s Ron Black looks back fondly on what his department was able to accomplish during his time in office.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working there for almost 12 years,” Black said. “When I got there it was a four man department. We’ve had a lot of growth in Springville and it was good to be a part of that,” Black said.

He said that he hopes that the department can continue to grow under the new administration, now headed by former councilman and current mayor William “Butch” Isley. “With the new administration and council coming in, they decided to make changes and [through] their decisions, I decided it’s time to retire.”

Black reflected on the issues facing the new council. “We are in a downturn in the economy and that’s going to be reflected across the board,” he said. “I hope the current administration can keep things going for progress in Springville.”

Mayor Isley said that he had “nothing but good experiences” when it came to working with Chief Black. “During the four years that I have been on the council I have enjoyed working with Chief Black. He is a man of high integrity, dignity and he’s prideful in his work. I’ve found him to be a great leader for our force.”

Currently, Isley said that he has placed advertisements and is taking applications throughout this month and through January before starting interviewing for a new chief. Lt. Jim Compton is currently the ranking officer and running the day-to-day affairs until another chief if found. Isley said that Lt. Compton would not be a candidate for the position per a conversation the two had.

Black was raised in Centerpoint and graduated from Hewitt-Trussville High School. He served in Vietnam and later earned degrees in criminal justice and psychology.

He and his wife, Martha, microbiologist at a UAB Children’s Hospital, have enjoyed living in Springville over the years. Black, a military history buff, said that he looks forward to spending more time volunteering with the Tennessee State Parks and Recreation in Loudon where he helps to put on historical recreations from different periods in American military history.

After serving on the Dothan police force for 23 years, Black—who also served in the Army Special Forces for 20 years—initially came to Springville and started a sporting goods store before being asked to come back to law enforcement by Springville’s then-mayor.

“That’s one of the more nice things about it from coming from larger into a smaller community,” Black said of moving to Springville in the 1990s. “The crime is lower. We didn’t have some of the more unusual things to deal with like some of the things that take form in the cities of our neighbors south.”

As the City of Springville began to grow in the late 1990s, so did the size of the department Black oversaw. His force went from using the “hot car” method, where officers would run police vehicles 24 hours a day to the “Indy car” method, where each officer had their own car. Black said that gave his a larger coverage capability and cut down on the cost of repairs.

One of the things Black said that he is most proud of is his department’s success in drug operations. Springville’s officers made one of the largest methamphetamine busts in 2007 when they stopped and 18-wheeler off Interstate 59 that was carrying almost 500 pounds of meth and cocaine. “We got another vehicle that had 210 pounds of marijuana traveling out of Texas,” Black said. “We’ve had various stops and arrests of meth and cocaine at 16 and 18 pounds at a time.”

He said that stopping drugs before they can be packed up and shipped off, such as when Springville’s officers busted a meth lab a few months ago and officers went into a trailer to find one of the people had set themselves on fire when a bottle blew up in their hand while trying to destroy drug cooking paraphernalia. “We’ve had a good impact on the drugs,” Black commented.

Another strongpoint that Black said that he was able to leave behind was a force that exemplified using the correct methods of policing. “Over the years we’ve been able to train and develop an investigative side of the house that I believe exemplifies criminal interdiction,” Black said. “Our investigations and case files are held as an example as a way that a case should be handled. Our county’s District Attorney and the State Attorney held them up as way to do things the right way and we’ve worked well with them. We have great department here in Springville.”