Rockwood 2000

FRED PHILLIPS, COMMISSIONER

TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF SAFETY

    Commissioner Fred Phillips is no stranger to the Department of Safety. In 1991, he served as the director of the department's Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy , which is responsible for coordinating training for law enforcement officers statewide. He then served as Deputy Commissioner of the department and commander of the Tennessee Highway Patrol from January 1993 until he was elected Sheriff of Washington County in September of 1994. As Sheriff, he oversaw a number of initiatives, including the launch of 29 community watch programs, and the creation of a reserve officer training program in which citizens provide vital public safety support to deputies. He had just begun his third term as Sheriff in Washington County when Governor Phil Bredesen asked him to return to the Department of Safety as commissioner.

    Commissioner Phillips possesses more than 40 years of law enforcement experience, beginning as a patrolman for the Johnson City Police Department and rising to the rank of Chief of Police – a position he held throughout most of the 1980s. His law enforcement career path also included three years as a special agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

    The Jonesborough native serves on the board of the National Sheriffs Association, which elected him "Sheriff of the Year" by a unanimous vote in 1999. Commissioner Phillips holds an associates degree in criminal justice from Walters State Community College in Morristown . He and his wife Verla have two children and four grandchildren.