HOLYOKE — After more than 30 years of serving on the force, Holyoke Police Chief David Pratt has announced he will be retiring from his post, effective the end of July.

Pratt, who has served as chief since 2021, announced his resignation at a press conference held with Mayor Josh Garcia at the Holyoke Media building on Friday. Police Capt. Isaias Cruz was named interim police chief until a permanent replacement is found.

“It’s time for me to go. That just became real apparent,” said Pratt, 56, who couldn’t help but become emotional when vowing to make up all the time missed with his family while on duty. “I’m ready. I’ve had a great career.”

Garcia, who noted he was only 6 years old when Pratt joined the force in 1993, thanked Pratt for his service.

“I have found Chief Pratt to be forthright and to be extremely compassionate,” Garcia said. “It has been an honor to have worked together with Pratt and also getting to know him as a human being.”

A graduate of Westfield State University, Pratt worked as a patrol officer before achieving a supervisory rank in 1999 and becoming a captain in 2011. He held the title of commander of operations, criminal investigations at the department before being named chief in 2021 by former mayor Alex Morse, replacing former chief Manuel Febo.

Garcia also announced that the city’s Police Relations Advisory Committee, formed in 2021 by acting mayor Terry Murphy, would lead the process to find a new permanent police chief. He also said he had no preference on whether the new chief comes from within the department or from another police force anywhere else in the country, and that his office would evaluate the top three candidates chosen by the committee.

“I’m flexible, but I want this committee to work together and help us try to figure out what are the qualities that we want on that achievement, what are the criteria that we’re looking for,” Garcia said. “The process that we’re putting together is from the bottom up and middle out to get us that candidate that is the best choice.”

Cruz, the new interim chief, like Pratt is a veteran of the Police Department, having served for 30 years. A native of Holyoke, Cruz has also served in the military and speaks both English and Spanish.

“I’m confident in my abilities as a leader, a mentor, and I can assure the citizens of Holyoke that I will lead the department with dignity and work hard on public safety and quality of life issues,” Cruz said. “I’m confident it will be a smooth transition.”

The announcement comes as the city has grappled with how to better combat violent crime since October 2023, when a pregnant woman riding a bus was struck by a bullet, resulting in the death of her unborn child.

In response to that incident, Garcia introduced a bill, known as Ezekiel’s Plan after the name given to the unborn child, that would have provided more than $1.5 million for a citywide camera system and an expansion of police services known as Operation Safe Streets.

Although that was ultimately rejected by the Holyoke City Council, Garcia said in an interview that the city was still utilizing a version of Operation Safe Streets that resulted with increased police presence, with police conducting several sweeps over the past seven months resulting in more than 200 arrests for criminal activities such as drug trafficking and firearm possession.

“We’re just not there yet, funding-wise. But we’re trying to figure it out,” Garcia said in the interview. “Instead what we’re doing is, we’re presenting them as opportunities come.”

Garcia also said he wanted to call the press conference for the announcement to emphasize the process behind finding a new chief, saying there would be no politics behind the future appointment.

“The chief is retiring. We got this guy [Cruz], he’s going take over. Oh, and by the way, here’s my process,” he said. “It helps kind of address a lot of those preconceived questions that people might have in lieu of this announcement.”

In his retirement announcement, Pratt also expressed confidence in the city’s approach to addressing the issues of crime in the city.

“I have the complete faith in what we’re about to do here,” Pratt said. “It makes me feel good about leaving because I know that things are going to be in good hands.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.