Retiring Police Chief Neil Noakes reflects on two decades of Fort Worth service
Police Chief Neil Noakes spent two decades in uniform, working to reduce violent crimes, support officers’ mental wellness, and strengthen trust in Fort Worth. Now, he’s stepping away from the role to be with family.
Noakes will continue serving the Fort Worth community through the end of May, working up until his final day.
“The days tend to take on a life of their own. As much as you may plan for the day and have a very strict schedule to make sure you get things done, things happen constantly,“ Noakes told the Star-Telegram in an interview before his impending retirement. “It’s almost like being a firefighter — you’re putting fires out all day long.”
What makes it manageable for Noakes is having a really incredible team, he said.
After 25 years of service, Noakes announced his retirement in December, saying faith, family and friends were the three factors that helped him make the decision.
Noakes said even when he was physically at home, mentally and sometimes emotionally he was still at work. He would think about things that happened during the day or anticipate and prepare for what was coming next.
“It was constantly monopolizing my mental space,” he said.
After retirement Noakes hopes that things will slow down, allowing him time to “decompress,” “de-stress” and spend time with his family and new grandchildren and be truly present without constantly thinking about work.
25 years serving the community
When you compare Fort Worth to other major cities, it stands out because of the support from the community and the city leaders, he said. “We‘re all kind of like a family.”
“Fort Worth has given a lot to me,” Noakes said. “I’m very, very thankful for that.”
Noakes said over the span of his career, he has seen positive changes in officers’ professionalism, including greater compassion and emotional intelligence.
He also noted technological improvements that allow more precise policing.
“Instead of just going into a neighborhood and stopping every car we can for every minor infraction, hoping to find one of the criminals that may be plaguing that neighborhood,” Noakes said, “this technology allows us to really drill down to the very people who are doing it, so we don’t negatively affect anyone else.”
Noakes joined the Fort Worth Police Department in 2000 and served in various roles, including Patrol, DWI, Motors and Internal Affairs. He led the South Command as deputy chief before being named chief in 2021.
A graduate of Tarleton State University and TCU, he had helped research and develop the city’s VIP Fort Worth program, which employs ex-gang members to stop gang violence before it happens.
The top priority was reducing violent crime, as Fort Worth experienced a rise in rates consistent with national trends. The department focused on bringing those numbers down as effectively as possible, Noakes said.
“Because not only was it making our residents, our visitors and those who work in Fort Worth less safe, it was making the officers less safe because they were having to deal with more violent criminals,” he said.
Homicides in the city have decreased by about 37% since 2021, he said. “It’s been a drastic decrease. Still too much. We want zero, but we’re going in the right direction.”
Breaking the stigma
In May 2024, Noakes along with Mayor Mattie Parker, Fire Chief Jim Davis and the American Warrior Association announced the launch of the R3 program: Respond, Restore, Resolve.
The program is about a holistic wellness unit focused on the physical, emotional and mental health of officers, dispatchers, call takers and their families. “We have officers whose only job is to invest in the overall wellness of our first responders,” Noakes said.
“We have checkpoint officers who contact those involved in traumatic calls to make sure they’re OK and aware of available resources,” Noakes said. He added that stigma was one of the biggest barriers to officers seeking mental health support.
“Officers didn’t want to admit they needed help mentally or emotionally,” he said. “But just like they take care of their physical health, they have to care for their emotional health as well.”
He said more officers are now using the resources, especially after hearing from peers who benefited from the programs. “When one of their own says, ‘Yes, this works, you should go,’ they’re much more likely to do it.”
Serving a million people
Fort Worth’s population has grown to 1 million.
When Noakes joined the department in 2000, Fort Worth had about 545,000 residents. “We’re almost double that now,” he said.
Noakes said the city’s steady growth over the past 25 years is unusual, noting that few cities expand at that pace year after year.
“I think the secret is, it’s just a great city,” Noakes said. “People want good schools, job opportunities and affordability. But one of the primary reasons is, people want to be somewhere safe.”
With the work police officers do every day, people believe they can come to Fort Worth and be safe, he added.
Many of the challenges in Fort Worth reflect national issues, Noakes said, pointing to growing political divisiveness. “It’s like everyone is either on one side or the other, and no one’s willing to come to the middle and talk anymore,” he said. “That’s going to be a challenge for everyone across the country until we can get past some of that.”
Advice for the future leader
Noakes said the role of chief is both a privilege and a burden. He said one of the most important lessons he learned was not to carry the weight of the job alone.
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it,” he said, quoting a former football coach. “My advice to the next chief is: don’t try to carry that burden alone.”
He said early in his career, he made the mistake of trying to manage everything himself, but quickly realized the strength of the department came from the people around him. “They stepped up and helped me out with everything that was going on,” he said.
The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously on May 20, to make current executive deputy chief Robert Alldredge interim chief while the city tries to find a replacement.
Humility is one of the most important qualities that the new chief should have, Noakes said.
“Someone who’s confident in their abilities, but they’re humble enough to know they don’t know everything,“ he said. “Someone who is courageous enough and decisive enough to make hard decisions, buy them and take ownership.”
Noakes said if anything goes well in the department, that credit goes to the people doing the work. But if something goes wrong, the chief takes responsibility, “because that’s just the way it is; that’s a heavy burden to carry, but that’s the job.”
“I heard a quote once that it seems everybody wants to be chief, but nobody wants to be chief. People like the title, maybe, but the job is not what people expect.”
“Overall, my best advice would be to take care of the people,” he said.
“We need somebody that’s going to focus on recruiting, hiring, retention, and taking care of your people is a big part of that,” Noakes said. “And then also look at quality of life issues, things that may not be in the news every day, things that may not be a violent crime situation, but things that are affecting someone’s happiness in our city.”
Life after retirement
“It’s time for me to step away and let somebody else come in with a fresh set of eyes, with some new innovative ideas and push this department further than I could have imagined,” Noakes said.
The role of being the chief took time away from his family, something he said that all first responders experience. When Noakes became a grandfather, he decided to focus more on his grandchildren.
Noakes said the department has been very supportive of his decision.
“You know, some may be sad to see me go, but they also understand why I’m doing it,” he said. “I’ve always told my officers, ‘family first — don’t let this job consume you.’”
Noakes said he has a 10-month-old grandson and is expecting a granddaughter to be born at the end of June.
“The smile on his face the way he smiles when I walk in the room, it melts your heart. And being able to have more time to see more of that, to really bond with him at a young age, and then throughout his life, I’m really, really looking forward to that,” Noakes said.
“The city and department have given me a lot in the last 25 years,” he said. “I feel like I still have more to give back.”
Farewell message to Fort Worth
“My message to the city of Fort Worth is I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here. I’m still going to be around,” he said.
“Every single day of my career, from my first day in the academy, I’ve been so privileged to be surrounded by the most amazing people in the world,” Noakes said. “Words definitely can’t express how grateful I am.”
Noakes said it has been the “absolute honor” of his professional life to be able to serve as the chief of the department he loves.
“My promise to the department is I’m going to do what I can to continue to give back to the department, and hopefully be an asset in some way,” he said.