Video: There’s A New Police Chief In Winona

WINONA, Miss. (WCBI)-Winona has a new police chief , but he’s a familiar face in town and on the force.

Alderman hired Tommy Bibbs on Tuesday.

Captain Bibbs has high expectations for officers, holding them to a high standard.

The future chief is quick to praise outgoing Chief Johnny Hargrove, so much so that Bibbs doesn’t want to change anything Hargrove has in place.

Instead, he wants to build on that success.

“Why would I want to go work somewhere else and police someone else’s hometown, when I can police my own town where I grew up?,” said Captain Bibbs, Winona’s future police chief.

Captain Bibbs has been with the Winona Police Department for 21 years now.  He said he’s ecstatic to be the new chief of police, and he has a clear set of principles for the department.

“I’m going to try to lead by example,” he said. “We’re not going to mistreat anybody no matter what your color is, how much money you make, where you’re from, everybody has to abide by the law, the law is for everybody, the only black and white in the law is on paper.”

Winona Mayor Jerry Flowers said it’s Bibbs’ hard work and dedication that made him the perfect candidate.

“We’re always trying to improve Winona and just make it a safe place to live where your kids can be on the street and not worry about anything, and Chief Tommy Bibbs is going to do a good job, there’s no doubt in my mind,” said Mayor Flowers.

Bibbs said he already has a few ideas for the department.

“We’re going to get the Winona police department the way Los Angeles police department, New York police department, Memphis, Jackson, the big cities, we’re going to set our police department like that just on a much smaller scale,” he said.

Which means adding more structure to Winona Police Department.

“What we’re going to do is set up rank structure, we’re going to follow by the rank structure,” said Bibbs. “We don’t want the chief, or assistant chief or investigators answering a call, we’re going to set some standards and we’re going to obligate some people to doing their job and their going to be held accountable for their jobs.”

But he also knows being in a small town has its share of challenges.

“The only challenge Winona has is money wise,” said Bibbs. “It takes a lot of money to operate a police department.”

The future chief said officers will continue doing their job, to keep residents safe.

“We want to be compassionate for the citizens in Winona, but if you mess up, you gotta pay the piper, simple as that,” he said.

Bibbs also plans to add some new faces to the police department.

He starts his new position July 29th.