The new Police Chief of the Greeneville Police Department Steve Spano was sworn in at the Greene County Courthouse Monday by Judge Kenneth Bailey.
Spano was selected by City Manager Todd Smith as the next chief for the Department on June 1 following a period as interim chief starting April 1 due to former Chief Tim Ward retiring. Spano was surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues at the event. His wife, Michelle, and two sons, Andy and Gage, stood with him as he was sworn in using his grandfather’s bible. Former Chief Tim Ward was in attendance to wish the new chief well.
The hiring process included an open search for internal and external candidates. MTAS, The Municipal Technical Advisory Service of the University of Tennessee, held an assessment center to review and assess candidates for the position and Spano was selected.
Spano began working for GPD in February 1994 as an auxiliary officer. He worked for the City of Tusculum Police Department from 1995-1997 and transitioned to full-time patrol officer for the Town of Greeneville in December 1997. Since that time, he has moved up the leadership ranks starting as patrol sergeant in 2006, and later, patrol lieutenant in 2010. In 2019, he was promoted to patrol captain, and rotated to support service captain and detective captain before becoming interim police chief this year. Each of the GPD captains have been cross trained to allow for a stronger departmental leadership team.
