Gainesville Police Chief Frank Hooper and his new deputy chief,
Jane Nichols, have a bond that goes back longer than most law
officers. All the way to the fourth grade, when her mother once
spanked the little Hooper boy.
When Nichols joined the force back in 1982 as a rookie patrol
officer, Hooper was the first partner she rode with. When he was
appointed police chief in 1998, the first promotion he made was
naming Nichols to the rank of captain.
Now, as the department undergoes a major organizational
restructuring, the chief has brought back the deputy chief position
not used since 2001. And there was no question who he would name to
the post.
"I think she's an excellent supervisor," Hooper said of his old
friend and colleague. "She's very fair with her subordinate
employees, but she also holds them accountable. She expects people
to do their job, and she has great leadership qualities."
"I'm excited about the new reorganization of the department,"
Nichols said. "It will be a challenge for me and it will be a change
for me, but also for the captains as they prepare to take over."
Hooper said the restructuring was needed in a department that has
grown 25 percent in his nine years as chief, to its present full
strength of 103 sworn officers.
Part of Hooper's reorganization is intended to streamline the
chain of command, and part of it is meant to prepare another
generation of officers for senior command positions when it's time
for the old guard to stand down. Hooper, with 31 years at the
department, isn't talking retirement yet, but he wants to increase
the duties and accountability for some of those a few rungs down the
organizational chart. His old patrol partner will help him do that.
"This is part of the development of the next administration of
the police department," said Nichols, who at age 48 has worked for
the Gainesville Police Department for 25 years.
During that time she's gone from patrol officer and motorcycle
cop to sex crimes investigator and shift supervisor. She's a
certified law enforcement instructor, chaplain and hostage
negotiator.
But law enforcement wasn't her first calling.
Nichols, the oldest of five children, was the first in her family
to finish high school. Taking a cue from her mother, who always
wanted to teach, she went on to earn a physical education teaching
degree from North Georgia College. She coached and taught for
a few years before joining the police force, after deciding she
spent too much time in the classroom and not enough time on the
basketball court or in the playing field.
"So, I thought I'd give this a try," she said.
Nichols says she's loved every job she's had in the department,
even when she bluffed her way onto the motorcycle patrol having
never ridden the monster Kawasaki 1000 bikes used at the time. She
would still be an investigator had she not been promoted, she said.
Nichols said the fellow officers and civilian employees she's
worked with, some for decades, "are like my family."
"We've been through a lot together," she said. "I love these guys
and girls, I really do."
