The Oakland Police Commission on Tuesday released a list of four candidates for the city's next police chief, and none of them is from within the department.
It’s been a year since Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao fired former police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, and since then, disagreements and drama have surrounded the search for the next chief.
“It’s been so long,” said Anne Kirkpatrick.
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She’s the chief of police in New Orleans and also a former Oakland police chief. She said one of the first things she noticed from the list of candidates is that they’re all outsiders.
“They're going to have to be very intentional about how they go about building relationships,” she said.
- Abdul Pridgen was chief of police in San Leandro up until last week after allegations he violated department policy.
- Floyd Mitchell is the former Lubbock police chief in Texas. He resigned in September of last year after his department was criticized over abandoned 911 calls.
- Lisa Davis is the assistant police chief in Cincinnati and the investigations bureau commander.
- Louis Molina is currently the assistant deputy mayor for public safety for the city of New York. According to the New York Times, he’s been criticized for failing to improve conditions at the city’s jails.
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A list of candidates previously had been presented to Mayor Thao in December. She rejected all the candidates on that list and requested a new list from the police commission.
A spokesperson for the mayor says her office hasn’t seen the latest official list yet but, “Mayor Thao looks forward to receiving the list of finalists and conducting her due diligence in reviewing the candidates.”
Kirkpatrick said the next chief of police will have to build relationships internally, and with politicians.
“The challenge is going to be handling the politics of that city, which are very difficult,” she said. “People are going to be assessing the new chief on their credentials, their credibility, their legitimacy.”
City Councilmember Noel Gallo said he wants a police chief who will be on the streets of Oakland.
“How do we maintain and grow our businesses faster? And secondly, how do we create a setting where grandma and grandpa can walk freely in the afternoon or in the evening here on our business corridors?” he said.
Residents will get a chance to weigh in at Oakland City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
