Police chief sets retirement date in Hot Springs

He’ll keep teaching, training at U.S. Justice Department

HOT SPRINGS — Police Chief David Flory announced Monday that he will retire effective Nov. 30.

Flory, 57, who has been police chief since Feb. 28, 2011, said he plans to spend more time teaching for the U.S. Justice Department, which he has already been doing, and will be more involved in areas of law-enforcement training.

He said Assistant Chief Jason Stachey will be named as interim chief at the end of the month and would be a good candidate for the police chief position.

The hiring decision will be left up to the new city manager after one is hired, Flory said. The previous city manager, David Watkins, died in August after being injured in a fall at his home.

“I teach for the Justice Department now and have for the whole time I’ve been here. The Justice Department approached me back in the summer and offered me a ‘more time’ position to do more teaching than I’m doing now and to be involved in more areas of law-enforcement training,” Flory said.

“I’ve been contemplating that and originally thought I would maybe entertain that idea next year, but because of financial opportunities with the job, it makes more financial sense for me to leave before the end of the year, instead of after the first of the year,” he said.

Interim City Manager Bill Burrough said in a news release that Flory is “well respected across the country and among police chiefs throughout the state.”

“He has been a positive influence for the Hot Springs Police Department during his years with the city. We wish him a happy retirement and the best in his future endeavors,” Burrough said in the release.

Flory said his decision to retire has “absolutely nothing” to do with the investigation into the hot-car death of Circuit Judge Wade Naramore’s son in July. A Little Rock attorney filed an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act lawsuit last week seeking the release of the recording of the 911 call from the incident and naming Flory as the defendant.

Flory said he was named only because he is the keeper of the records and was instructed by special prosecutor Scott Ellington not to release the recording.

“I’m sure some folks will speculate that it has something to do with the Naramore case, but it has nothing to do with it whatsoever,” he said.

Flory said that in his almost five years as police chief, the department has accomplished “a tremendous amount,” and he gave credit to all the employees for working as a team to make that happen.

He said his main goal was trying to make the department the best in the state and that he feels that has been accomplished.

Flory said that when he was hired by former City Manager Lance Hudnell, he asked what the one thing was that Hudnell would have him do.

“He said, ‘Change the culture, and make the department more professional,’” Flory said.

“I think one of the biggest accomplishments, working as a team, is that we’ve changed the culture of the organization to be more customer friendly, more responsible to the community, more transparent and accountable to the community,” he said.

On the subject of training, Flory said the department has gone from having no money in the budget for training to being one of the best-trained departments in the state, whether in firearms, use of force, customer service, response or school violence.

“Pick a topic, and we’re much better trained,” he said.

He said the department has also gone from having no body cameras, no patrol rifles, no Tasers and little modern equipment to having all those things, including body cameras, which have just arrived.

Flory said he is especially proud of the improvement in accountability and relations with the community.

“That is one of, if not the biggest, accomplishment I’m proudest of. I think the community sees us as more transparent and more accountable and more receptive to the needs of the community. The department was good when I got here, but I think it’s better five years later,” he said.

In an email to police department employees earlier Monday, Flory said he is “closing out a chapter of my life that has seen 37 years in full-time law enforcement, 22 of those years as a combination assistant chief/police chief. I have had a blessed career and want to thank each of you for making it that much better.”

“I know that some of you have not always agreed with the process of getting us to being the best or with all of my decisions and I understand that. Change is difficult, especially when it affects you personally. I did my very best based on my experience, training, gut and God’s direction; I sincerely apologize to those of you that did not agree along the way.”