The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners met for the first time since the retirement announcement of Police Chief Dan Isom. Foremost on the boards’ agenda was establishing a process for vetting and interviewing potential candidates for chief.
Commissioner Richard Gray says the board plans to take a number of steps, similar to those taken when hiring a corporate CEO. Including such things as a psychological examination to determine leadership skills, looking at old tax returns, and also engaging the public.
“The idea of making sure we add a focus group and look at what the community is looking for in a leader,” is one idea, said Commissioner Richard Gray.“We’ve also looked at adding a couple other pieces that I think are going to be really important going forward—getting the rank-and-file and meeting with them and getting their pieces as well.”
Gray says the board will work closely with the criminology department at the University of Missouri—St. Louis, to establish criteria and qualifications an effective police chief should have.
The department has a total of 22 officers (17 captains and 5 deputy chiefs) who are eligible to apply.
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