Allen Formally Named Chief

After serving as acting police chief in East Ridge for 13 months, Stan Allen was formally appointed Chief of the East Ridge Police Department on Monday.

“I am happy to announce the selection of Stan Allen as Chief of Police for the City of East Ridge,” City Manager Chris Dorsey wrote in a press release. “Stan has been doing an excellent job as Interim Chief and I expect the same level of commitment and dedication to continue for years to come.”

Allen was a 28 year veteran of the Chattanooga Police Department before joining East Ridge in 2015 as Assistant Police Chief. He is also a graduate of the distinguished FBI Academy.

Chief Allen served as interim chief after Acting City Manager Kenny Custer terminated J.R. Reed in March. The firing came after a prolonged internal affairs investigation of Reed focusing on his inability to lead the department, mishandling of money in property and evidence, and allowing the department’s SWAT team to use outdated equipment.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.