Despite expressed support from Mayor Jon Mitchell to retain his position and earn a new contract with the City, New Bedford Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro has decided to retire after five years as the city's top cop. His tenure will be marked by positive changes such as a departmental policy shift towards community policing, technological upgrades in the department, and new use of force policies that were codified in a commission established by Mayor Mitchell last summer in response to civil rights protests in the city. It will also be marked by some controversy, such as a very long and public collective bargaining dispute that has left the men and women of the police union with a deep sense of embitterment, and the ongoing conversation about the Mitchell Administration and the NBPD's opacity with respect to reporting crime data and communicating with the local media.