The city of Austin has reduced the number of candidates for police chief to seven.
The finalists are:
- Joseph Chacon, Austin interim chief of police since former Chief Brian Manley retired in March
- Anne Kirkpatrick, former Oakland, California Police Chief.
- Avery Moore, assistant police chief, Dallas
- Celeste Murphy, Atlanta deputy chief of police
- Mirtha Ramos, Chief of Police, DeKalb County, Georgia
- Gordon Ramsay, Wichita, Kansas Police Chief
- Emada Tingirides, Police Commanding Officer, Los Angeles
City Manager Spencer Cronk was enthusiastic about the variety of candidates. Four of the seven finalists are women. All candidates have served in leadership roles in police departments from Los Angeles to Miami. Some have master’s degrees in areas such as law, management, criminal justice, and psychology.
Cronk is expected to announce the city’s next top cop in late August, according to a city press release.
The new chief will oversee a department that employs 1,809 sworn officers and 734 staff, with a budget of $ 240.8 million for fiscal 2020-21.
“The challenges and opportunities associated with this initiative alone are diverse. The police chief will help APD and the city adapt and reshape law enforcement to improve public safety for all who visit, live and work in Austin, ”the statement said.
The city received 46 applications from applicants with different experiences and backgrounds. Applications for the position were opened three months ago.
The new chief of police will take over as community groups call for changes in the department’s culture amid allegations of racist behavior under his leadership, concerns about the training of officials, and demands for racial justice sparked by the police’s murder of George Floyd last year .
Last summer, the city council voted to transfer about $ 20 million from the police department to other departments, including Austin Public Health and Austin-Travis County EMS. The budget cut was part of the council’s desire to rethink the role of police officers in what the city administration calls a public safety redesign.
But the backlash has seen its own backlash when the Texan Legislature passed a bill banning cities slashing their police department budgets from raising new property tax revenues, and the Save Austin Now Political Action Committee pushed for a proposal that a specific one Level of police force would require staffing.
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