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Omaha's new police chief is officially in charge. Wednesday night, Todd Schmaderer's father did the honors of pinning his badge and Mayor Suttle gave him the oath of office.
The promotion ceremony took place at the legislative chambers at city hall. Dozens of current and former police officers were in attendance.
Schmaderer told the audience that he has some big shoes to fill and learned a lot from the previous police chiefs.
Reporter: "Will you be a visible police chief?"
Chief Schmaderer: "I'd like to be. It's important to out there as the face of the department. That goes to transparency as well. I never set out to be a police chief. Once I got a few promotions, I started to like the executive side of things as well."
Schmaderer's a young chief. He's 40 and believes his age will help him relate to the young police force.
But it's his community policing strategies he hopes will eventually speak for him. "We have to make a dent in ongoing crime trends. Today's victim can't be tomorrow's suspect. We have to break that cycle somehow."
He said the community is serious about helping and that there are many things already in place.
The previous chiefs were criticized for being so close to retirement when they were hired. Omaha had three police chiefs in four years.
Schmaderer says he's 8 years away from his maximum pension and says he has several ideas that are 3-5 year plans of action and he wants to see those through.
Just before the new chief said a few words at the promotion ceremony, Occupy Omaha interrupted things. The flash mob spoke for 40-seconds urging the chief to reinstate a police auditor.
Robert Wagner was with them. He accused police of excessive force last year when his arrest was captured on security cameras at Creighton University Medical Center.
Chief Schmaderer listened and moved on to thanking people from the podium.
He later told Channel 6 News: "If it instills public trust, I would be in favor of any type of oversight."
