TOLEDO, Ohio — After 35 years with the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department, former chief Brian Byrd is ready to tackle a different role.
"I'm blessed. To have the opportunity to take the experience from before and kind of roll it over into this new position," Byrd said.
Moving forward, Byrd will oversee all safety operations in the city, with both the police and fire chiefs reporting to him. His deputy director will be Angel Tucker.
Byrd said that their long service on the city's safety forces has given them a unique outlook, and they intend to lead with a community-focused vision to further improve the Glass City's safety.
"There's going to be outreach, engagement, and consistent observation of what's working and what's not," Byrd said.
Byrd says he and his staff already are developing an approach to tackle some of Toledo's biggest issues, including it's homicide rate. Last year was Toledo's deadliest year ever. Byrd says their tactics will focus not only on stopping crime as it happens, but also addressing the conditions that perpetuate it.
"So we want to take this opportunity to look at the violence itself, to try to address the violence itself, along with other community-focused programs and initiatives that can deal with some of the overarching issues and environments that create that," Byrd said.
Toledo already has seen a reduction in gun violence this year, with only one homicide in 2022 so far compared to six at this same time last year. Byrd said he's not certain what's causing this decline, but he says anything that seems to be working will be something he intends to keep.
"You know, the program that was initiated, the mayor's initiative on violence, you know, has been out there for awhile, it is possible that the violence interrupters and some of those programs are having an impact. We're gonna keep pushing forward with things we can't say don't work, because we don't know," Byrd said.
Byrd said another one of his top priorities is getting more, highly qualified people on the payroll.
Fire and police, police especially, are having a hard time filling their ranks. So we are looking at some potentially expanded recruiting programs and partnering with some community organizations to help lessen that recruiting effort," Byrd said.
Byrd said there is a misperception of law enforcement in some parts of the community. He hopes focusing on grassroots recruiting efforts will improve that image.
More on WTOL: