Meet the chief

Tim Ross started his career with Homewood Police Department as a patrol officer in 1988. Once he decided that was where he wanted to stay, Ross moved up the ranks and on Jan. 1, he will assume the role of HPD’s chief of police.

At the Dec. 21 city council meeting, Ross was appointed chief while surrounded by his family and fellow officers. Ross succeeds retiring Chief Jim Roberson.

“This is something that has been a goal of mine almost since I started here,” Ross said. “It’s a great honor. I’m excited about it. It probably hasn’t set in fully.”

In his time with HPD, Ross has been part of the patrol division, motor scouts unit and the tactical team both as a regular officer and a sergeant. After being promoted to lieutenant in 2008, Ross ran the special operations division and later headed up the patrol division.

Besides 27 years of experience as a Homewood officer, Ross grew up nearby, graduating from Shades Valley High, and lived for many years in Homewood with his wife and daughters.

"He has always been a person of integrity and character. I'm excited for the police department," said Mayor Scott McBrayer when he presented his recommendation to the city council. "It'll be a good day for the city of Homewood."

Ross was chosen from a list of 11 candidates provided by the Jefferson County Personnel Board, which guides hiring for the city of Homewood. He made it onto the list by passing the chief of police test, which includes written, roleplaying and verbal tests of candidates’ decision-making, communication, leadership and community interaction skills. It was Ross’ first time taking the test, and he said he felt fortunate to earn the chief position in his own department.

“[I] just decided to make [Homewood Police Department] home and never looked back and strived from that point forward to do what it took to get to the next level,” Ross said.

Once his appointment was announced, Ross said he received positive feedback from every level at HPD.

“Everybody’s been so nice and so many well wishes and congratulations in person, via email, Facebook, you name it. I’ve been overwhelmed with how positive everybody’s been,” Ross said. “I couldn’t ask for a better reception, quite frankly.”

Before he officially becomes chief on Jan. 1, Ross said Roberson shared advice and knowledge from his own four years as chief.

“He told me he felt like it was very important to meet with my staff regularly to have a good idea of what’s going on in their divisions that they command, what’s going on in their heads, what ideas they have,” Ross said. “And to meet with the mayor and chief executive regularly so I can communicate what’s going on in the police department, what our needs are.”

Roberson said he had worked together closely with his successor and had seen Ross perform well as lieutenant over the special operations division and patrol division.

“I expect that he will do a great job for the city, and continue to do a great job at a different level,” Roberson said. “I think the mayor did a good job and made the right choice.”

In the short term, Ross said one of his immediate goals is to hire more people. There are nine patrol officer positions to be filled, along with support positions such as corrections officers and radio dispatchers. He’s also hoping to find more officers to follow his own path of joining HPD and staying for the long haul.

“I don’t feel like we can serve this department or this community as well when we’re short-staffed. It really takes away from what I feel like we can really do for the community if we don’t have enough people to do it,” Ross said.

Thinking further ahead, Ross said he would like to be chief when the time comes to build a new public safety headquarters. He wants to help shape the future growth of the police department through that project.

While many Homewood residents are familiar with Ross after nearly three decades of service, he also intends to remain accessible in his new role, especially through participation in regular city council meetings and HPD’s Citizen Police Academy. Recent national debates over police violence and trust make this accessibility even more important to Ross, so that community members feel his officers can be relied upon.

“That’ll be challenging but I think it’s a challenge we can certainly meet because we have some very capable, very good people working for this department. That’s our strongest thing we have going for us here is our people. I can’t emphasize that enough,” Ross said. “That’s one thing that’s really kept me here for a long time is there are so many people that I work with that I have a tremendous amount of respect for and I feel like they’re good people.”

Ross hopes his service as Homewood’s police chief will be seen as another step forward for the city on the path “forged by my predecessors.”

“I think I’ve already had a positive impact on the department but I want to continue to have a positive impact on the police department, on our people and in our community. I want the Homewood Police Department to be regarded as a very service-oriented police department and a very professional police department,” he said.