FORT WORTH POLICE CHIEF NEIL NOAKS REFLECTS ON 25 YEARS OF SERVICE
After 25 years of service, Neil Noakes is stepping down as Police Chief of the City of Fort Worth.
A graduate of Tarleton State University who later earned his Master in Criminology and Criminal Justice from TCU, Noakes started as a patrol officer and worked his way up to detective, sergeant, lieutenant, North Division Commander, Deputy Chief of South Command and eventually became Chief of Police in 2021.
Two of the most important accomplishments during his tenure as Police Chief include the establishment of a Wellness Program and his involvement in various youth engagement programs.
Reflecting over his career, Noakes said his journey started with a very basic idea—to do something where he could give back in some way.
“My grandfather used to say ‘Try to help at least one person every day,’ Noakes said. “I wanted to work in a place where I could actually do that. My father was a firefighter. I thought about joining the fire department, but I was eventually drawn to policing because I had some friends who did it who would talk about how they could actually make a positive impact in people’s lives.
“They said there would be hard days, but they felt the job was very rewarding and they could help other people.”
Noakes said the most fulfilling aspect of his job is getting to work with the people in the Fort Worth PD and the community itself, saying he believes Fort Worth has maybe the best police-community relations of any large city in the country.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Noakes said. “We’ve had some really down times, even in recent years, but they keep going out and doing the job. We have a community that supports us. We still have work to do, and I have no doubt that long after I’m gone officers are going to continue doing that work in building those relationships and making Fort Worth the best it possibly can be.”
The holistic wellness program Noakes ushered in is one of the initiatives of which he is the most proud because it focuses not only on physical but also mental health.
“We also created the R3 program, respond, restore, resolve, where we’re very intentional about reaching out to officers through the checkpoint system who have been on traumatic calls and provide them with the resources they need,” Noakes said. “Removing the obstacles and stigmas associated with accessing mental health services has been a game changer.”
Noakes credits much of his own mental well-being to his wife Kim, whom he describes as his rock.
“She has been a constant source of support and encouragement, and in a job this stressful, you always need a safe place to land,” Noakes said. “She has always been that safe place. When I come home and need to vent, she’s there. When I come home and need a sounding board for some ideas, she’s there. If I just need to come home and it in silence and process the day, she’s there.
“No matter what it is that I need, she has always been there and been my biggest supporter. She was also a great barometer. She would let me know when she saw the pressure getting to me and I might need to step back or even take off a day. I tell her this frequently and I don’t think she believes me, but I could not have done this job without her love and support and encouragement.”
Noakes said he would like for his legacy to be as someone who lived out his faith and was a servant leader in the department, and said developing leaders is something the FWPD takes very seriously.
“Fort Worth is going to be just fine,” Noakes said. “Any leader should want their organization to improve when they are gone. Things have to continue to move forward and get even better. We’ve got some amazing people in the department in leadership roles who are going to step up and do what needs to be done to make sure the department keeps going the way it needs to.”
The outgoing chief said one thing he would like people to understand about police officers is that they are human, with their own feelings and emotions who have experienced their own traumas and tragedies.
A big misconception, Noakes said is that police do not really care about the people they serve.
“We are not these robots with no feelings or emotions that don’t care, and one of the things that really sets us back professionally is when one officer, anywhere in the world—Minneapolis, for instance,
does something that goes completely against what we stand for as police officers and public servants,” Noakes said. “There are some who will paint us all with the same brush. They will assume that we are all like that one officer, and what I would hope people would get is that that is one incident, with one officer, or if there are multiple officers on that scene, but that is not all of us. The vast majority of people who put on the uniform try to go out and do their best every single day and try to do things the right way.”
Away from the badge, Noakes said he is a husband, father and now grandfather, and emphasized that he is a “normal guy,” in his life outside the department.
“Police chief is a special position, but I am not a special person,” Noakes said. “I was just blessed with the opportunity to serve in this incredible role in an amazing department, in an amazing city with amazing residents. I’m not special. I’m just like everybody else.”
Noakes is not sure what he will do in retirement just yet, but said he will definitely spend more time with family, and said eventually, he would like to do something where he feels like he is giving back in some way.
“There is a great quote by Martin Luther King,” Noakes said. “’Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?’ That’s what I’ve been asking myself because there was plenty I could do for others as chief. But once I am no longer chief, I have to find a role where I am able to answer that question in a very positive way.
“I really want to stay engaged with the department and the city. Fort Worth, for as big as it is, is like a small town. The biggest small town in America. I’m sure there will be opportunities like that. I just have not found them yet.”
Whatever his next venture, Noakes said he will take with him the lessons he learned in law enforcement into the next chapter of his life.
“People don’t always see this, but the most rewarding work is not necessarily work that you are doing for yourself,” Noakes said. “It’s work that you are doing for others. Usually, the most rewarding work is the most challenging work where you learn not to shy away from hard decisions or hard initiatives—to really face the obstacles in front of you, in our case crime, and instead of ignoring it and hoping it will go away, really doing something about it.
“James Baldwin once said that not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. What I’ve learned is that as hard as it is, I’ve got to be willing to face whatever comes next and do my best to be able to one day look back and say, number one I did my best, and second that I think I actually made a difference and made somebody’s life a little better.”
