FERGUSON, Mo. — One year ago Monday, Troy Doyle became the Ferguson Police Chief. When the former St. Louis County lieutenant took over the department, it was no small feat.
5 On Your Side sat down with Doyle to look back on what he's accomplished and what's to come.
"Man, it went really quick, seemed like I've only been here for maybe a few months," he said.
The past 366 days have been nothing short of a whirlwind for Doyle.
"Everything here has been a lot of work," he said.
When Doyle took over as Ferguson Police Chief on April 1, 2023, he described himself as a "fixer" and during his first year on the job, he got to fixing really quick.
"One of the things that people may or may not be aware of, essentially, we are a new police department, being that we only have like five officers here remaining since the 2014 uprising so essentially we are a brand-new police department here," he said.
Doyle said it's important he reminds his officers about the important job they hold and to alter the reflection the community has of them.
"I think it's extremely important for me to try to change that image and change the culture within the police department and make them feel proud of being a law enforcement officer because it is a noble profession," he said.
That's all a part of Doyle's mission to rebrand the department, in every way from patches to cars. He said he's hoping to remove the stain that's covered the suburb ever since the death of Michael Brown, who was killed by an officer in 2014.
"This police department has been through extensive training in implicit bias, racial profiling, you name it, we have been through it," he said.
It's something that Doyle has zoned in on, even hiring a training coordinator for the department. The moving pieces all come together as we approach the 10th anniversary of Brown's death.
"What I'm hoping for is that, especially for people who are not familiar with Ferguson from the outside, that they see us in a different light, and people know that 'Hey, this city is no different from any other city in the United States to where they want the same thing.' They want safe neighborhoods, they want a family atmosphere, we got great parks here, again, I'm proud of the police department that we have been able to build," he said.
Chief Doyle said one thing he is most proud of is his involvement in the community over the past year. Right now, he's working on a new and improved neighborhood watch because he said it takes everybody to deter crime.
"It's essentially a fancy neighborhood watch program. We're going to have all wards involved with this. This is going to be robust; we're going to have people meet on a bimonthly basis, and we're going to talk about crime in this city, and we're going to talk about solutions," he said.
When it comes to crime, according to Doyle, the biggest battle his department is up against are property crimes and it's something they're seeing more youth get involved in.
"It's disheartening because you have to actually say, 'What does the future hold for us?'' Prevention, intervention, and enforcement; those three things have to be incorporated in what we do as a law enforcement agency each and every day," he said.
Doyle said something he still wants to accomplish is to tune in more on specific crimes issues.
"Instead of just taking police officers, flooding them in a neighborhood to try to reduce crime, let's just focus on those individuals in those locations that's causing us the most harm," he said.
Looking into the future, Doyle hopes to positively impact in the community he now calls home and it's a future that's just getting started.
"I'm proud of the city. I'm proud of this police department. I'm proud of where we are heading," he said.
During his first year, Doyle has also increased staffing by 30%. The department is still working to get its accreditation restored.