The Tennessean
Within a month of Chief of Police John Drake’s new position as the head of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive on Second Avenue, destroying one of our city’s most vibrant thoroughfares.
Drake’s officers were on the scene where they were miraculously able to roust sleeping residents and save every life before the bomb exploded. That’s on top of a highway shooting that took an innocent life, a global pandemic that has hit Tennessee especially hard, and ongoing civil unrest. To say his first 30 days in office were busy is an understatement.
“They told me there would be a honeymoon period where I’d be shaking hands and kissing babies,” Drake says. “I’ve always told people I like challenges, but I tell you what, they’re coming.”
Drake, who serves on the boards of You Have The Power and Special Olympics, Middle Tennessee, has the innate ability to at once keep calm and upbeat about the situation without being glib or dismissive of the hard realities. It’s a refreshing and seemingly necessary trait in a police chief.
His personality was on brilliant display as he passionately discussed his early years growing up in East Nashville, the moment he realized he wanted to be a police officer, and the 30-plus-year career that brought him to this moment.
The Tennessean
An East Nashville upbringing: I grew up in East Nashville in a house my grandfather built for a little over $5,000 back in the 1930s. People that grow up in East Nashville have an affinity [for the neighborhood]; there’s just something about it. Sometimes when I want to get out and think about things, I’ll drive around East Nashville and reminisce. Growing up there, what you heard about police officers—it wasn’t very positive, so I didn’t want to do that [as a career]. I remember they would visit the schools and talk to the kids and oftentimes they would have me stand up and put me in handcuffs and it was fun back then, but you look back and think, well, a lot of thoughts. But I had a cousin who was like a brother to me—still is. He was putting in [an application with the police] and said, “Hey, you already have done a lot of nice things in the community, it’d be a good platform and we could go in together.” I decided to put in an application and went through the process and got hired. And he didn’t initially; he came on about six months later and had a good career. He retired after almost 30 years.
Becoming a hometown hero: I was so proud to be a police officer and to be able to serve my community, but I knew because of a lot of things that had happened prior to me joining there had always been a discord with the community and police department, off and on. I felt I could make an impact. On a particular call near Christmas this lady in a housing development had her home burglarized. And I remember taking her report and she was distraught. I looked at her Christmas tree lying on the floor with all the presents gone and I knew she couldn’t afford to replace all that she had bought. I remember going out and buying toys and bicycles and dolls and taking them to her, and her just crying because she really didn’t know how she was going to make Christmas work for her. That made my career take off even more because it wasn’t just about crime fighting, which I did a lot of, but it was the opportunity to help people even more, and that really was the basis of my career.
Climbing the ranks: At first, I really just wanted to put in 30 years, retire, and then see what was out there in the private sector. I was having a surgery—they had thought I had cancer—and it took two weeks to get the results. I had a sergeant call me and I was excited because it was a frontline supervisor, a person you talk to all the time. I remember him asking me more about when I was going to get back to work. I felt like I wasn’t a person, I felt like I was just a number, an employee number. I decided I wanted to get into leadership—one to lead, but also to show people who work for me that I cared. I just got an email from someone from the deputy chief in San Antonio and he told me that he talked to someone here and that I’m an “officers’ chief ”—I’m someone that you can talk to. And that’s really the way I’ve been throughout my career. I’ve taken responsibility, accountability, and leadership, but I’ve kept those relationships and tried to form bonds throughout.
Becoming the Chief of Police: I didn’t know it would be me, but it’s something that I wanted from the time I made a deputy chief. I set my mind that if the opportunity ever became available and I had the opportunity to apply or was asked to accept a position, that I would go for it. It’s the pinnacle of someone’s career, it’s the pinnacle for a young man that grew up in East Nashville that’s still invested in the community. When I was appointed as Interim [Chief ], I knew I was going to apply, I knew I was going to go through the process, and I never wanted to hold it down for someone else. In fact, I strongly feel after almost 33 years that had they hired someone from outside, I probably would’ve retired and looked at other options.
An abrupt transition: It has been sort of unreal. I had a vision for the police department and was hoping to carry it forward after my interim role. Once I was appointed I thought it was going to be a honeymoon period, but right in the middle of that you’re still dealing with a pandemic, trying to keep officers out of harm’s way, trying to mitigate the virus with the community, a tragic incident on I-440, and then the bombing. It’s been very busy. I like challenges, and they, to me, are defining moments in a person’s career and life—it’s how you meet those challenges. With the great team I have—I can’t take credit for them—but we’ve done, I think, a pretty good job.
The Tennessean
A Christmas miracle: It was really relieving to see that the [officers responding to the bomb scene] were fine. It was gratifying to hear that in the midst of all this and not knowing what they were responding to. And they had the presence of mind to knock on doors, to get people up, and get them out before the bomb detonated. It could’ve detonated earlier than the count, and we would have had a lot more tragic situation. The way those buildings looked, I know it would have been some people seriously injured or worse. It was surreal to me when I first got there and I saw the destruction. I remember standing in the middle of the Second Avenue thinking, “Is this Nashville? Is this my hometown? Did this just really happen?”
Nashville Proud: My favorite thing about Nashville is the people. I’ve been to several cities and none of them compare to home. I remember being in New York City and I was looking for the Empire State Building. It was really foggy and I tried to ask this guy was that the Empire State Building I was looking at and you would’ve thought I was enclosed in glass and he couldn’t hear me at all, he just walked right by. The people here are friendly. People still hold the doors for each other. I just love the vibe here and it keeps me going.