APD's new chief prepared well for the job

But it was a moment that almost didn’t happen. In 2008, after more than 25 years with the Atlanta Police Department, Turner applied for the police chief's job in Fort Worth, Texas.

“God has a perfect plan,” Turner said later Friday. “I thought I had that job. But it simply wasn’t my job, and I am fine with that.”

In a way, getting rejected in Texas was the last hurdle Turner would have to overcome before becoming a chief.

He had already chanced his way onto the APD, went through the “I am smarter than my boss” phase, climbed every rung of the administrative ladder, and questioned his own abilities.

“With Fort Worth, I learned a lot about the process. How to prepare. How I needed to get myself in the right frame of mind,” Turner said. “I think about the awesome responsibility of being the chief. When you're coming up, you always talk about what you would do when you become chief. Well, this is it.”

In naming Turner chief, Reed said, "Atlantans are going to believe in their Police Department again."

In some corners of Atlanta, Turner's elevation has been praised.

Monica O’Neal, president of the East Lake Neighbors Community Association, said Turner’s promotion sends a positive message to officers coming up through the ranks, although she said qualified external hires would also be good for the APD.

“Long term, the community deserves folks in the role like Turner leading the way,” she said.

Even the union, which has traditionally had a love-hate relationship with the chief’s position, supported the pick.

“I think he’s going to be good for the city,” said Lt. Scott Kreher, who heads the Atlanta chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers. “Since January, the rank and file has felt there was a sense of ownership back in the Police Department. This is an opportunity for us to show that we as an internal family can produce a top-notch, world-class police department.”

Kreher said that despite the criticisms of former Chief Richard Pennington, Pennington instilled a sense of urgency among the rank and file to develop professionally by getting a higher education, taking advanced training and looking across the globe for the best crime-prevention ideas.

“I think Chief Turner is a product of that,” Kreher said.

But others feel that whatever bond Turner and Pennington share is too close. One group, Building Locally to Organize Safety, has always lobbied for an outsider to be chief, going so far as to say a fix was in to get Turner.

BLOCS contends that Turner was not on the original list of candidates submitted to Reed.

"We know that it was a sham," BLOCS member Moki Macias said.

Reed says that's not true.

"People saying that this process was manipulated is ..." said Reed, catching himself. "For every search, every committee delivered five candidates. Turner was still in the three. And it would do him a disservice to make it seem like he is the accidental chief."

Turner comes into the position after what might be considered a bright interim period.

During his six months as interim, he hired 150 officers, the second-largest increase over that amount of time in a decade. At the same time, crime dropped 14 percent and violent crimes dropped 22.7 percent.

“The men and women bought into what we were talking about -- policing our communities," Turner said. "We have to take pride in everything we do, because every time we step out, people are looking at us.”

From the day Turner became interim chief in January, it was noted how visible he had become, as opposed to Pennington, whose presence declined over the years.

“They know that I am going be out there. They know I am going to be over the radio,” Turner said. “They know that the boss is gonna show up -- everybody is accountable.”

After the Screen on the Green fights, Turner showed up at the next two movie events just to show his face. He has been on the scene at several high-profile crimes.

A native of Atlanta, Turner spent the first nine years of his life in Perry Homes before his family was able to buy its first home in Southwest Atlanta in 1968. He graduated from Therrill High School in 1977 and went to what was then Clark College to play cornerback for the Panthers.

He dreamed of playing in the NFL, but when he realized that wasn’t going to happen, he filled out an APD application.

“I filled it out and forgot about it,” said Turner, who was a senior at Clark at the time. “In May or June they called me, and in July, they hired me.”

Turner left Clark and became a police officer July 24, 1981.

“He was always focused, and in this field you have to be focused on what you want to be. He wanted to be chief,” said Deputy Chief Ernest Finley, who came up in the force with Turner and calls him his mentor.

Turner said in his early years on the APD he never thought about being chief. He said it wasn’t until 1993, when he was a sergeant that he started to think he could rise up in the APD. It started with a new lieutenant.

“I had always gotten good evaluations, and he gave me a mediocre evaluation,” Turner said. “I thought this guy doesn’t have a clue. I can do better than this guy.”

He took the lieutenant’s exam and passed, and in 1999, then-Chief Beverly Harvard made him a major.

“Then all my hopes changed,” Turner said. “As a recovering athlete, I asked myself, how can I get to the top of the pile?”

He got the answer when Pennington came.

Pennington brought in outside commanders who had higher degrees and more advanced academic training than Turner.

“In 2002, I realized I was not prepared, and it forced me to look at what I needed to do,” Turner said. “I knew I had to go back and complete my degree.”

He finished his degree. Then he got his masters in public administration at Columbus State. And on Friday, he became chief, making $200,211 annually.

“I think it goes back to my parents. They were always hardworking folks who taught me not to blame other folks for your failures or success,” Turner said. “And it is the nature of being an athlete. I relate crime-fighting strategies to looking at film. I look back at what we’ve done wrong and what we have done correctly and work to do better.”