19-year CPD veteran named new chief

Submitted by Canton1 on
By Donnita Fisher Managing Editor

Lt. Brad Allison, 45, has been selected to be the next chief of the Canton Police Department.

Allison will take over the CPD’s top spot when current Chief Mike Echols officially retires Aug. 31. Echols has been with the department since 1987. He has been chief since October 2007.

Allison has been with CPD 19 years and has worked his way through its ranks starting out as a patrolman before becoming a corporal, sergeant and then lieutenant. He has spent the last two and a half years as a narcotics officer.

Originally from West Monroe, La., Allison said he grew up and wanted to be a police officer. “From the time I was a little boy, I always wanted to be a policeman,” he said.

He moved to Texas at age 18 and while working for a trucking firm eventually putting himself through the police academy.

He then became a reserve officer in Balch Springs, a suburb east of Dallas before joining the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office.  “I did a small stint there and then came to Canton PD,” Allison said. 

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