Chief Blaine Wade

The City of Bristol Tennessee has 30.6 square miles and a population of 25,500. Our officers patrol 450 miles of roadway.

We strive to attain the highest levels of training and education and focus our work on community service and involvement.  Our Department has 69 sworn officers and 25 civilian employees.

Our community services range from conventional police patrol to proactive crime prevention involving youth, adults and senior citizens.

Officers are involved in outreach education at schools to help kids resist drugs and gang activity.  We also recruit citizens to attend police academies in order to get to know us better and learn our challenges.  These academies lead to more citizen involvement and volunteer help.  Auxiliary volunteers save the city more than $100,000 each year.         

We are proud that our response rate to emergencies averages less than six minutes.  Our department protects with specialty units such as trained K-9 units, drug and bomb response units and a SWAT team.

The U.S. Justice Department designated us as a graduated "Weed and Seed" site in the Anderson Street neighborhood. This unique, grant-funded program was a cooperative effort between police and citizens to improve the quality of life and reduce crime.

In recognition of our continuing quest for excellence, the Bristol Tennessee Police Department won national accreditation in 1996 from the Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (C.A.L.E.A.®).  In November 2004, we were re-accredited.  In the fall of 2007, our Department will be reviewed again to ensure our compliance with the National accreditation standards.

Blaine E. Wade, Chief of Police
801 Anderson Street, Bristol, TN 37620
423-989-5535
bwade@bristoltn.org