New Interim Toledo Police chief lays out plans for the department

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Interim Toledo Police Chief Mike Troendle isn’t taking his new role at the Toledo Police Department as a short-term assignment.

“I’m just not going to sit here and go, ‘OK, here we go we’re going to wait’. No, we’re still pushing forward,” said Chief Troendle.

He’s not only serving in this temporary new role but auditioning for the permanent job.

Troendle’s eyes are set on making changes to turn around some of Toledo’s crime numbers. Like all police chiefs, crime is a priority, yet Troendle is concerned about the “fear of crime.” He doesn’t want people to consider Toledo a dangerous place. He aims to prioritize receiving tips from citizens to make crime-solving much easier.

In Toledo, you may soon see an enhanced or revamped Crimestopper crime tip reporting system.

“That is going to allow our community to report crimes without the fear of being exposed as reporting beyond our normal crime-stopper,” said Chief Troendle.

This is just one of the many plans Interim Chief Troendle has in the works. Troendle is a 29-year-old veteran who’s worked everything from SWAT teams to crime statistics. Chief Troendle hopes he’ll become permanent chief later this year.

“Being the interim is a great honor, but also, the interim title kinda has a little bit of a handcuff on me right? I want to do a lot of things, and there are going to be bigger programs that I’ll roll out if I do, in fact, get the chief’s job,” said Troendle.

In the short term, he’s planning a new recruitment team with younger faces. In addition, he’s hoping to increase minority numbers on the force. Troendle wants to encourage the officer to be out of their cars, present and visible.

“The residents need to know not only are we here, but we’re staying here. We will continue to be in your neighborhood,” said Chief Troendle.

Troendle also told 13abc that he’s also into analytics, as he subscribes to numbers such as the “6-60 rule”. That’s six percent of the criminal population commits 60 percent of the crime in a community.

With that focus, Troendle knows there is work to be done, and citizens don’t care what title you have.

This is why he said the bad guys wouldn’t sit around and wait for a leadership transition so the police can’t flinch during this time.

Applications to be chief of the Toledo Police Department are due by the end of the month.

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