During the 1980's, the department would see a number of retirements; Lt. Otis Rose, Walter N. Shipes, Capt. William B Blanton, Joe Terrell, John Slaughter and Chief Gracey Farmer. The Chief of Detectives was retiring with 30 years of service and chose to remain part of the Department as a school crossing guard.

In February of 1980, Mayor Ted Crozier recognized Officer Ralph Proust for his extraordinary work with his canine, "Yankee". The mayor stated, "He (Proust) has been instrumental, on duty 24 hours a day, he gets called out all the time and I just found out that he hasn't ever asked for any overtime". Later that year, "Yankee" would die from hemorrhagic pancreatitis.

In April of 1980, Sgt. Doug Pectol and Detective Emmett Lilly were presented with a Mayor's Certificate for "Outstanding detective service which lead to the apprehension and arrest of those persons allegedly involved in the recent murder of Charles and Marie Shepherd.

This was a particularly heinous crime in that the Shepherd's were the victim's of a home invasion that resulted in their deaths. It shocked the city of Clarksville like no other crime in recent history. Also in the early 80's, Clarksville saw the disappearance and later murder of Kathy Nishyama, a local high school student and the disappearance of Rodney Long who was a student at Austin Peay. He was also kidnapped and murdered. These cases were solved by the department and convictions resulted in the perpetrators going to prison.

Also in 1980, application was made for a police grant in the amount of $125,972 which would allow for the hiring of 6 additional officers. The City also voted to provide uniforms for the school patrol personnel. Up until this vote, they had been providing their own.

In 1981, The Clarksville Police Department Softball team won the Queen City Softball League. On that team were Bobby Bedwell, George Elliott, Gen Grubbs, James Heaton, Kurt Harris, Richard Hinkle, Jon Holloway, Jerry Maclin, Vernon Mosley, Doug Pectol, Ernie Rice, Johnny Rosson, Mike Taylor, and Carol Hodges ussery.

1982 saw a number of officers being recognized for their outstanding service in a number of different areas. Robert Banks, Richard Zimmer, Ernie Rice, and James Jones were recognized for their participation in the International Police Olympics held in Austin, Texas. Vernon Mosely was named Fraternal Order of Police Officer of the Year and Sgt. Doug Pectol was the recipient of a Mayor's Certificate for his organization and carrying out of a major sting operation. A Mayor's Certificate was also presented to Officers Doug Glenn, henry Lyle and John Young for their performance on January 14, 1983 in which they rescued a 2-year old child from a burning trailer.

Ordinance 32-1983-83, adopted in March 1983, was approved regarding the retirement of Chief Ira Nunley. In May of 1983, a three man screening panel, after interviewing eighteen candidates, narrowed the field to three possible choices for Chief. Those selected were: Bobby Cushman, George Siegrist and Ronald Drew.

After further interviews, George Siegrist was chosen as the new Chief of Police. Siegrist was 42 years old with a Master's degree in Criminology and Corrections; a Bachelor's degree in Law Enforcement, had graduated from the FBI Academy and had 11 years of law enforcement experience. Ted Seay remained Deputy Chief and Paul Neblett was hired as Chief of Detectives and Lt. David Blaize was hired as a Lieutenant.

Chief Siegrist brought with him a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm. He was a believer in physical fitness and instituted several programs designed to make his officers better conditioned. He created an Intelligence Section, an Internal Affairs Section and upgraded the evidence collection and storage process. Seeing a need for decentralization, he moved officers into a North Precinct located in the airport terminal at Outlaw Field. He also moved officers to the Highway Patrol station on Madison Street for a South Precinct. The Detective Division and the Vice-Narcotics Section moved to a location on Main Street, directly across from the main fire station. The evidence room was located at the Main Street site. During Chief Siegrist's tenure, the department was involved with the F.B.I. in solving several bank robberies which occurred in the area. All of the perpetrators were caught and successfully prosecuted.

After a lenghty discussion, the city Council approved the buying of guns for the officers. The weapons were to be considered a part of the officer's required uniform. This would also provide for the standardization of guns throughout the Department. The City also purchased a computer system which would allow the Police Department to tie into the County system.

On October 1, 1983, Maria Sayle, a 23 year old Clarksville native, was sworn in as the first uniformed woman patrol officer for the Department. She was a graduate from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy in Donelson, Tennessee. In the past women had worked on the force in plainclothes with Juvenile and Vice Squad, but Sayle was to be the first accredited female patrol officer.

Later on October 25, 1983, 78 grams of cocaine were found hidden in a van. The cocaine was found to be 87% pure, with a street value of approximately $50,000.00. At that time, this was the largest cocaine raid in Clarksville's history.

The Clarksville Police Department Reserve Division was established by Clarksville City Ordinance 19-56-4 on January 5, 1984 to provide a readily available reservoir of trained police manpower to supplement the Clarksville Police Department. The Reserve Division graduated its first class in march of 1984 and subsequently contributed over 100,000 volunteer hours.

The Reserve Division remained in place until 1994 when the department was awarded certification as a law enforcement agency. Although the Reserve Division is disbanded, the tremendous support and assistance provided by these private citizens.

After serving less than two years as Chief, George Siegrist resigned March 15, 1985. Siegrist left Clarksville to become Chief of Police in West Palm Beach, Florida. On March 19, 1985, Paul Neblett was sworn in as the new Police Chief.

With the departure of Chief Siegrist in 1985, the City Council selected Paul Neblett as the new chief of police. Chief Nebletts's background in drug investigations was the catalyst for the department's drug unit to be very active as was as successful under the leadership of Lt. David Baize and Sgt. Mike Barrett. The department was involved in several large scale drug investigations with other agencies which led to several large seizures of both drugs and cash. Not a proponent of decentralization, Chief Neblett brought all department divisions into one location that was housed in what is known as "The Old Booster Building". He also created a garage which dealt only with police cars and was headed by Tom Dyce. Also during Chief Neblett's tenure the creation of the second multi jurisdictional drug task force in the state was created. The 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force became operational on June 1, 1986. It Included officers from the Clarksville Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, Springfield Police Department and the Robertson County Sheriff's Department. The project was created with the approval of all department heads from both jurisdictions and was spearheaded by former District Attorney Pat McCutcheon and former State House of Representatives member David Ussery. In its beginning, the Task Force was successful in developing and prosecuting drug cases as well as supplying officers from both Montgomery and Robertson counties with valuable intelligence.

Early Friday morning June 28, 1985, three men wearing Halloween masks robbed the Commerce Union Bank in St. Bethlehem. Although a deputy sheriff arrived at the scene one minute after the call was broadcast, the suspects were gone.

Later that afternoon, a call of suspicious subjects on a tractor in a field near Exit 8 resulted in numerous law enforcement officers, including the FBI, converging on the area. Metro Nashville Police provided a helicopter for the air search.

Clarksville Police Canine Officer Robert Hunt and "Bear" had tracked two of the three suspects into a cornfield. Officer Hunt came across one suspect seated in the field. The man dropped his rifle, held up his hands and surrendered. When Hunt attempted to secure the weapon, he felt a hard object pressing into his lower back.

Turning, he found the second suspect pointing a gun at him. Hunt, who had his own weapon pulled, squeezed the trigger, however, his gun didn't fire. He knocked the rifle away and started running. He flung himself to the ground as he heard two shots. Turning over, he saw the suspect on the ground, still trying to point the rifle at him.

Deputy Sheriff Jimmy Worthington, who was serving as back up, had approached the scene and realized that Hunt was in extreme danger. The two shots were fired by Worthington, who wounded the suspect.

Ironically, the suspect was found to be wearing a bulletproof vest and yet Worthington managed to hit an exposed area on his upper body. Aduffel bag filled with money was recovered. It was later learned that the suspects had ditched their getaway car and walked into the area where they had been found. The third suspect gave himself up at law enforcement two days later.

In 1986, the annexation of St. Bethlehem led to the addition of nine new officers. The annexation vote was extremely close. As part of that annexation, the City of Clarksville was committed to providing certain services, not the least of which was police protection. Even though the department's responsibility was not extended to heretofore Sheriff Department's jurisdiction, it was met with optimism and enthusiasm, It was certainly a challenge to learn a new area, new people and provide adequate coverage to the citizens and their property. The department was tested early when a suspect barricaded himself in a local business with hostages. The TAC Team responded with hostage negotiators and brought the situation to a peaceful and safe ending. In January on 1987, shortly after the annexation, a drug suspect with a history of violence was sot and killed by a member of the Drug Task Force. This incident occurred as a St. Bethlehem motel as the suspect fled apprehension.

In 1987, Chief Neblett submitted his resignation and Captain Charles Slayden was named interim Chief. Lt. Johnny Rosson was selected as the new Deputy Chief.

A written police policy manual was approved by the City Council and adopted for use in 1987. Traffic Control was transferred to the Police Department that same year.

Cheryl Smith Anderson became the first black female patrol officer to join the department on October 5, 1987. Officer Anderson was also the only female at the basic police school in 1988.

1988 would open with Clarksville having its first ever Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy School in the city. The first school would have 24 recruits.

The possibility of returning to the Criminal Justice Complex became a reality in 1988, when construction began to add more floors to the existing building.

Officer Tim Chandler received a Mayor's Certificate for his swift apprehension of a bank robbery suspect on August 30, 1988. The Sovran Bank on New Providence Boulevard was robbed and within seven minutes of the call, Officer Chandler had the suspect in custody.

On April 14, 1989, the Police Department moved back into the newly renovated Criminal Justice Complex. Then on May 1, 1989, the North Precinct became a working reality. The South Precinct had already made its move into the old Highway Patrol Station on Madison Street and was operating successfully.

On July 1, 1989, Chief Charles Slayden retired and was replaced by Deputy Chief Johnny Rosson. Chief Slayden was a steady hand on the department during his tenure and had the foresight to support bringing the D.A.R.E. program to the City of Clarksville.

The 1980's would see some of the most unique criminal cases ever investigated in the City's history.