News
City hopes to name chief finalists soon
Search for top police job has 57 applicants
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Published: May 9, 2008
The search for Winston-Salem's next police chief is expected to take at least two weeks longer than originally planned, City Manager Lee Garrity says.
Garrity said that the city now expects to announce three or four finalists for the job in about a week. A public forum with the finalists will be held the week of May 19. Initially, Garrity had hoped to name the finalists by April 30.
Waters-Oldani Executive Recruitment, the consultant group that the city is paying up to $34,500 to conduct the search, has received 57 applications for the job.
"We have a good mixture of internal and external candidates," Garrity said.
He said that the applicant pool was diverse and had applicants from police agencies across the country, but he would not give further details.
Garrity said he expects to choose eight to 10 applicants for interviews with the help of a panel of police chiefs, fire chiefs and city-government officials from other cities in the state.
He said that part of the delay in the search was caused by difficulties of finding a time when everyone on the panel could meet. "Everything takes longer than it should," he said.
The panel will vote on the candidates it interviews and, after reviewing those votes, Garrity said he will choose the three or four finalists.
The city will then release those names and a short biography of each candidate.
Within the department, at least three people have applied -- Assistant Chiefs Ronnie Abernathy and Kevin Leonard and Capt. David Clayton.
Assistant Chief Barry Rountree, who has said he is interested in the job, could not be reached to confirm that he had applied.
Police Chief Pat Norris retired on Dec. 1, then returned to work on contract until June 30.
Several possible changes at the department are on hold until the next chief is chosen, including changes recommended by a recent consultants' report on the criminal-investigations division.
The report, by Risk Management Associates of Raleigh, recommended that detectives' supervisors do more to hold them accountable for delayed reports, that the department create new pay grades within the ranks of officer and corporal and that it make major investments in its crime-scene technicians unit.
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
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