As the Bay Area heads into a new year, the city of Oakland appears to be back at square one in its months-long search for a new police chief.
11 months into the search for Oakland’s next top cop, the ongoing hunt is worrying those looking for law enforcement leadership in one of the biggest cities in the bay.
“It’s devastating because we have been waiting all year for a police chief and promised a police chief by the end of the year and we don’t have one. It doesn’t seem we are going to get one anytime soon,” said Bishop Bob Jackson of Acts Full Gospel Church.
Jackson is also prominent local NAACP member. His latest disappointment comes after Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao rejected the current list of three candidates the city's police commission recommended for the job.
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NBC Bay Area learned on Wednesday the finalists were Oakland’s former police chief LeRonne Armstrong, Tucson, Arizona's assistant chief Kevin Hall and San Leandro police chief Abdul Pridgen, who was placed on leave a few months ago as he's being investigated for department policy violations.
“LeRonne Armstrong is the best candidate that you can find and we just feel like that’s across the board. However, the commission has a job to do, the mayor has a job to do. Our thing is in the meantime, the only people who seem to be suffering are the voters,” Jackson said.
The police commission now has to decide whether to reopen the search to new candidates or revisit the longer list of candidates they've already considered.
Just to get to this point, the commission went through a six-week recruitment period and then, they selected seven finalists before submitting their three finalist to the mayor.
The police commission met Thursday night to discuss a new timeline and next steps.
The chair of the Oakland Police Commission announced that a new round of open recruitment will take place in January, with a final list of candidates to be sent to Thao on March 1.
There are growing questions about why the process is taking so long. Now, some community groups say the blame falls on Thao.
“She [Sheng Theo] promised that they would have solutions by the end of the year for a police chief and if not, they would declare a state of emergency. We are calling her out here today," said Edward Escobar with Citizens Unite.
Earlier Thursday, a group pushing for the recall of Alameda County DA Pamela Price and the resignation Thao held a rally outside a recently burglarized Albany CVS. They said that they believe Thao’s lack of leadership is not only leading to a spike in crime in Oakland, but in neighboring cities as well.
Thao says she has no plans to declare a State of Emergency since the first list of names was submitted by her end-of-the-year deadline.
NBC Bay Area asked the mayor’s office on Thursday how long they expect this new search will take. They wouldn't give a date, but release a statement saying Thao is working with the police commission to expedite the process and added:
“Finding the right leader for the police department is a priority and Mayor Thao intends to conduct this process in a timely manner.” It goes on to say, "She would like to review more candidates in order to make a well-informed decision on the best police chief for Oakland."
