Seattle citizens get their opportunity to interview an important new hire for the city this week — our next chief of police. Wednesday night at the Seattle Center, the three finalists to lead the SPD will appear at a public forum to discuss their views on law and order. We’ve attached “Competitive Exam Materials” for each of the three candidates to this post — each PDF contains a police work history for the candidate, his cover letter and essay answers to questions from the search committee convened to select the next chief. Our news partners at the Seattle Times examined the candidate answers in this write-up.
As Mayor Mike McGinn prepares to choose Seattle’s next police chief, the three finalists for the job will appear at a community forum next week to talk about their experience and take questions from the public.
The three finalists, selected by the Mayor’s 26-member Police Chief Search Committee, are Rick Braziel, chief of police in Sacramento; Ron Davis, chief of police in East Palo Alto, Calif.; and Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz.
All three candidates will appear at the forum, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 2, in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center.
The forum, moderated by Search Committee Co-Chairman Charles Rolland, will include opening remarks by Mayor McGinn, a 5-minute presentation by each candidate and about half an hour of discussion with each candidate. Audience members will be encouraged to submit questions, with translators available, and various community members will be on hand with prepared questions as well.
The event will be live-streamed by the Seattle Channel on the Mayor’s blog, at www.seattle.gov/mayor/.
In addition, reporters are invited to attend consecutive 30-minute media availabilities with the finalists on Friday, June 4, in the Norman B. Rice Room in the Mayor’s Office, on the 7th Floor of City Hall. Interim Chief Diaz will meet with reporters at 1:30 p.m., followed by Chief Davis at 2 p.m. and Chief Braziel at 2:30 p.m.
Mayor McGinn convened the Police Chief Search Committee in January to help him find a successor to former Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who was appointed by President Obama last year to be the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. The Mayor expects to announce his choice for chief sometime in June. His selection is subject to City Council confirmation.
For more information about the search process, see the Search Committee’s website, http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/spdChiefSearch/
