Q&A with Evansville Police Chief Philip Smith
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In January, Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry introduced Philip Smith as the new chief of the Evansville Police Department. Smith succeeded Billy Bolin, who served as EPD’s police chief for 12 years.
Smith is an 11-year EPD veteran, most recently serving as assistant chief since 2021. In 2020, he was presented with the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing. Smith spoke with Inside INdiana Business about his goals as chief and the state of law enforcement.
Tell me about your history with the Evansville Police Department.
I was hired in January of 2013. I attended the Southwestern Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, which is held in Evansville, and that’s a 17-week police academy where we learn how to be cops. At the end of the class, they vote on things like best shooter, best academic for firearms and best academic for bookwork. I was voted class president by my peers. That was pretty cool and very humbling.
I spent the next four years in motor patrol, basically patrolling the streets of Evansville, answering calls and working with the citizens in that capacity, which was awesome. In 2017, I was tapped to be the special projects coordinator for the police department. I worked in the Office of Public Information, crafting and being a part of the police department’s messaging to the community and beyond, and I loved that job.
In 2021, Mayor [Lloyd] Winnecke and Chief Bolin asked and appointed me to be the assistant chief of police. I served in that role for three years, and in January of 2024, I was appointed to chief by Mayor Stephanie Terry.
Tell me about the Cops Connecting with Kids program.
Before becoming an Evansville police officer, I worked in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. I was an after-school programs coordinator, and I also did college readiness at the alternative school, [Academy for Innovative Studies]. While I was there, I met several officers who convinced me to do a ride-along and actively recruited me to be a police officer. I did the ride-along, and I thought it was great. So I applied, and I made it, fortunately.
My first year, Chief Bolin was approached by Glenwood [Leadership Academy] principal Tamara Skinner about an opportunity to chaperone kids to Walt Disney World. She needed more than just Chief Bolin; she needed some male chaperones. So Chief Bolin, Sgt. Jason Cullum and Kyle Phernetton from the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office were three of them.
Then one of the teachers said, “You know what? You just hired a guy from the school corporation who would probably be a good fit.” I was on probation at the time, and Chief Bolin checked with my training officers to see if I was doing okay. They said I was, and so they allowed me to go.
On that first trip, we didn’t know what were getting ourselves into as far as what it was going to be like. The kids, when we first met them, they were standoffish to police officers, and to some degree, we were standoffish a little bit. So we get on this trip, and we think these kids are going to have a good time. And they did. But what we didn’t realize was that along this trip and spending this much time with kids, they would open up to us and we would open up to them.
What was great about it was how it changed us and how we viewed law enforcement and policing in our community. So when we got back, Sgt. Cullum asked Mrs. Skinner if they were going again and if we could chaperone. She let us know that they wouldn’t be going again because they didn’t have the money; it was just a one-time thing. Then Jason posed a question that changed my life and everybody else’s. He said, “Well, what if we raise the money?”
So that’s how Cops Connecting with Kids was born. We started raising the money, and we’ve been in the schools ever since as far as raising the money and partnering with the schools and with these kids. We’ve taken over 530 kids to Walt Disney World and made a lot of good friends along the way.
What did you learn from Billy Bolin, the former police chief?
Billy is not only a mentor, but one of my best friends in the whole world. He had such a steady hand, and he was so innovative and unafraid to be himself and authentic in this role. Some people knew him as Chief Bolin, but he was so informal. Billy, that’s our chief. I’ve mimicked a lot of that. I go by Philip, and people call me Phil. That’s what my mom named me. That’s good enough for her. It’s good enough for me.
[Billy] has so much knowledge of displacing institutional knowledge and being able to work under him as his assistant chief for the last three years and seeing how he actually lived, putting the citizens’ needs in every thought, in every decision that he made, and that’s what I mimic. I’m not going to be a carbon copy of Billy Bolin. No two people are the same. So there will be some things that I do differently, but not a lot.
He’s laid a great foundation for me and my new assistant chief. I still talk to [Billy] daily. I’ve changed some things. I’ve called him and told him about it, and he’s been like, “Man, you know what? I didn’t think about that. That’s a good idea.” That’s what you want from a leader. You want someone who wants to propel you and put you up. I should be doing the same with the men and women here. I should be looking for the next leader amongst us to take my place.
How did you go about choosing your assistant police chief?
You have to understand the needs of your city, the needs of your department. My assistant chief, Nathan Hassler, is a man who has integrity. He loves this profession. He is well respected here.
[Nathan] came from the narcotics division. He was a narcotics sergeant. And we all know that fentanyl, heroin, those are things that are just ravaging not only our community but other communities. I wanted to bring someone along who could help me navigate through those waters and give me ideas on how to combat that, how to better prepare my officers to get out there and fight that.
He was able to do that from a unit of about 11 folks or so, but now he has a whole department that he can give that guidance to, including myself. He’s someone who I greatly respect. Like I said earlier with Chief Bolin, you want to look for the next leaders, and he’s one of those individuals.
What are your goals as police chief?
Short-term and long-term, I want to keep people safe. But achieving that changes with the times, changes with technology.
In the short term, I want to pay attention to areas in our city that may need a little bit more attention, like our parks department. We created a parks unit early on to go out and deal with the parks and to make sure that people who are visiting the green spaces in our city are safe.
Long-term goals, definitely increasing retention. In 2015, we started seeing a decline, not only in Evansville but all over the nation, in people walking through the doors to become police officers. And we saw an increase of those walking out of the door, whether that be retirement or people just leaving the profession altogether and going elsewhere. So making sure that my people feel valued and also increasing our efforts to recruit people and bring people through the door.
Your biggest recruitment tool is the men and women that you already have. They’re the walking billboard. They got the patch on them. Treat them right, give them the tools that they need to let people see that. Make them a place that they can be proud of and talk about. Word of mouth is still one of the best tools in advertising.
What’s the state of law enforcement right now?
We all know that in law enforcement, things swing in a pendulum. When I was a young kid, I remember vividly, though I may not have had an understanding of what was going on, the Rodney King situation. Where those people in law enforcement, at that time, they were accused of a lot of things stemming from that event. Even though Rodney King happened in L.A., officers from all over, as far as the East Coast, were getting confronted with Rodney King accusations.
It’s very similar to what we face right now, with what’s going on with George Floyd and Larry Brown. We’re in that same moment but in a different space with more technology and camera phones. People are seeing it more, but we’re also in a place where there’s more transparency for law enforcement.
Law enforcement now has a voice. Instead of just saying, “No, this is not us,” we can now show you us. We also have better tools to combat those narratives and be in a better position to link up with our communities because of the technology that we have.
The profession of law enforcement has changed. The types of officers have changed. We’re open and welcome to people with different ideas. My background, I’m a radio television broadcasting major. I worked in education before. I’m not the typical person who grew up saying, “I want to be a police officer.” I don’t fit that mode, but I bring different ideas. We see value in people who can bring different things to the profession now.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming solar eclipse and public safety?
The first thing is collaboration and cooperation. We’re working with [the Emergency Management Agency], we’re working with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, all the entities of public safety, fire, [American Medical Response], to be on standby for potential things that could happen in those arenas. We have all of our people ready and prepared.
If you go back to 2017, we had a similar event where we had an eclipse. It wasn’t total. We were about 99%. We’re going to be about roughly over three minutes in total darkness, it’s pretty cool. We’re going to have a lot of folks here, and we want to welcome those people.
We’re going to be all hands on deck and increasing communication and partnership with our collaborating agencies. But we’re also telling our people to take time to step back, put their glasses on and look up, too, because [the solar eclipse] is something for all of us to enjoy.
How can the business community play a role in promoting public safety?
We have several partnerships with businesses, whether they be through alarm companies for safety or to notify us of nuisances of trespass or what have you. Keeping that dialogue of communication together is key, and it’s vital.
Coming in and telling businesses how to make sure that they’re being safe by teaching them about different surveillance that they could put around their businesses. Small things like cutting down bushes to open up your viewing portals or having lighting so that your employees can be safe at night.
It’s about communication. Our doors are always open to talk to the businesses and partner with them. We’re citizens, too. We shop at a lot of these businesses and collaborate with them in our personal lives. We want to make sure that our business community is thriving and that we can do everything we can as a police department to make sure that those business owners and employees feel safe and confident that they can call on their police department.
How do you feel about working with Mayor Stephanie Terry?
I have a personal relationship with and respect for Mayor Terry. When I worked in the school corporation and ran after-school programs, I had a young lady walk through my doors in 2007 and say, “I want to partner with your kids because I want them to have a safe place to do things.” This young lady worked for the Carver Community Organization at the time, and that young lady was Stephanie Terry.
She has not changed one bit on her stance on making sure that Evansville is a safe place for our youth. I respect that, and I’ve always respected that. I have great admiration and respect for Mayor Terry and look forward to working underneath her as her police chief, and I’m honored to do so.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I can’t wait to go back to Disney World.