Todd Radford

What has been your biggest accomplishment in the past five years?

Staying married to the same woman for 24 years, graduating two young men who are now productive men in society—one has his own company, and the other one is going into the Marine Corps. I would put those three things first.

What was the department's top issue in 2009 when you became chief?

I feel very strongly about the fact that the Lakeway Police Department was not hitting its mark the way it should have been in 2007 through 2009.

One of the biggest hindrances we had was that the turnover rate was exceptionally high. It's very hard to deliver a quality police service when your force is changing and you go from [losing] anywhere from one to eight officers a month every month.

How did you deal with the high turnover rate?

My master's degree was in business/executive development, and I wrote my thesis on retention issues for law enforcement. One of the very first [strategies I used] was to get rid of the dead wood and bring in experienced people who want to be here.

You educate your first-line supervisors. You hold people accountable. You set expectations. If you believe in mediocrity, that's what you're going to get. If you believe in exceptional performance, that's what you're going to get. And that's what I did.

We had to increase the budget in certain areas to really legitimize this organization and move us to where we needed to be. In 2009, [Lakeway City Manager Steve Jones and I] agreed very strongly that the vision of the Lakeway Police Department was to keep this community safe.

In what ways has the department's relationship with the Lakeway community changed during the past five years?

As a department, we didn't have the best level of trust with the community. I really wanted to engage the community in a different way than we ever had before. It started with just teaching the officers to be friendly—wave, be nice, be firm but be fair. Engage the community—not only on calls but when you're not on calls—get out and stop and talk to people.

We created the daily activity log. You had to do a certain number of community contacts a day. It changed the perspective of the officers at that time.

We threw out the policy manual and worked our way through developing a brand new policy manual.

Our practices were recognized by the Texas Police Chiefs Association.

It's really about service. I can't serve the people we're supposed to if I don't know what they need, what they expect. If you're not out there talking to them, you don't have any idea what your customer wants.

By the same token, there was a huge misconception about what the police department was—what they could do and what they couldn't do. I think that really changed.

We put a camera on every officer so we could see how they were doing their jobs. The camera gave us an opportunity to coach, mentor, train and modify processes and deliver a higher quality of service.

Has there been a shift in the type of crime you encountered in 2009 to today?

Obviously the crimes are increasing. It's not at a staggering rate. It's not at a rate where we're not managing it because we are. But the types of crimes are different.

There are more people here [now], and with more people you wind up with more types of crime, more reportable crime. When you have a good relationship with your public, more people are willing to report crime.

Our traffic enforcement has gone up. We have had no fatality collision [within city limits] in the five years [of my tenure].

DWIs are more officer-initiated. For instance, last year, we had 29 DWI arrests. So far this year we've had 33. We've done a much better job of training the officers to detect DWI drivers.

What has been your hardest day on the job in the past five years?

The toughest day was on July 25 at 7:15 a.m. when my phone rang and I was told that Sgt. Chris Doles had passed away in a collision. The second toughest was when I had to bury him.

What has been your proudest professional moment in the past five years?

It's really hard to pick one. In totality, I'm extremely proud to be the chief of police in Lakeway because of all of the things we've been able to accomplish in these five years—to take an organization in disarray to a place where it's respected now in Central Texas.

How have the two new K-9 units affected your organization?

It has brought to light the fact that we have a lot of recreational drug use, and we have begun to address it. The use of the K-9s has spurred investigations in that area that we otherwise wouldn't have had. It's really opened my eyes to some things we need to address in the city.

It's also allowed us to become engaged with the different task forces in the area who specialize in narcotics trafficking.

Now that you're at the five-year mark, have you reset your goals and the goals of the department?

That's an interesting question because the average for Texas police chiefs is three to five years in one job. I'm blessed to just still be here.

The goals I have are to continue to improve the organization; to identify needs and address them vigorously; to maintain a high level of service; to continue to push people to give me excellence; to continue to push myself to give excellence; and to hope that, at the end of the day, that's enough.

How do you let off steam?

I'm not one to take time off. I go to school still. I have a master's degree ,and I'm trying to finish my second master's in criminal justice. I'd really like to work on my doctorate. For me—learning, reading, teaching—[those] are things I'm truly passionate about.

I play golf and do yoga four to five times a week.

Lakeway Police Foundation

The Lakeway Police Foundation began in 2010 at the request of Police Chief Todd Radford, Treasurer Steve Langerock said.

In its four years of existence, the program has raised about $70,000 to help police officers and their families in cases of emergency as well as for memorials, scholarships, educational programs and other needs, he said.

The nonprofit organization holds fundraisers—including an annual gala and frequent bingo nights—to provide resources to the Lakeway Police Department, Langerock said.

"[The Foundation] provides an opportunity to give back to the men and women who lay their lives on the line for us," he said.