Former University of Alabama police department Lieutenant John Hooks has been named the new UAPD Chief of Police according to Chris Bryant, Interim Director of Media Relations. The selection was announced to all UAPD employees Monday, Sept. 28

The selection comes after an internal search since Tim Summerlin, the former policechief, was promoted to assistant vice president for strategic planning and operations within the Department of Public Safety, according to Bryant. 

In 2012, Hooks was one of the recipients of the Tuscaloosa Exchange Club’s Officer of the Year award, due to his actions during the April 27, 2011 tornado that struck Tuscaloosa,

according to an article in 2012 by the Tuscaloosa News.

Hooks has worked for the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and as a crypto-linguist with the U.S. Air Force, according to the Tuscaloosa News article. He was the lead investigator in more than 300 criminal cases in 2011. 

“He consistently has demonstrated a high level of organization, self-motivation, persistence and attention to detail – skills that no doubt have been instrumental in enabling him to maintain a high ratio of solved cases,” according to his letter of nomination cited by the article. 

Hooks serves as a member of the U.S. Homeland Security’s Region 3 Law Enforcement Response Team and UAPD’s dignitary protection unit. He is skilled in computer forensics, financial crimes investigations and is fluent in Spanish and worked after the tornado on the Missing Persons Task Force, according to the Tuscaloosa News article.

Hooks served five and a half years as a deputy sheriff for Tuscaloosa County and six months as a Lieutenant for the UAPD, according to his LinkedIn profile.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.